BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, NOV. 21-22, 2017

In addressing, affirming, and alerting the young disciples of Corinth, and us ‘young disciples’(?) in our modern-day, in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Paul wrote: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? FOR YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. As God has said:

‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” That’s collectively all the truly repentant, faith believing and trusting, all the “soldiers of the Cross”, and individually, yes, “the least of these”!

As a result of awareness of one’s true repentance, then exercising the gift of faith by the Holy Spirit, yes, CHOOSING to “rest” in Christ alone, in 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul also said: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Do YOU see yourself as a Foundation Stone of the Holy Temple of Christ?

Come with me to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21! Buckle yourself in tight to Biblical Truth about our identity “in Christ”!! It says: “Therefore, if anyone in IN CHRIST, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become NEW. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION.

Now then, WE (In Christ!) are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

“Foundation Stones of the Holy Temple of Christ”? God’s ministry to us and through us? In 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 Paul lays a strong foundation upon which “true temples” are birthed, survive, and prosper! He said: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Are YOU aware of “commanded light shining in you and through you to reveal to others ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ as The Holy Spirit, yes, “forms” Christ in you by your submission and obedience to the Living Word”?

A foundation stone of the Holy Temple of Christ’s presence is a “blood-bought vessel”, and Paul says the ‘treasure stone’ is your earthen life, an earthen vessel, (2 Corinthians 4:7), “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” And, “a bondservant”, as His earthen vessel presence, radiates “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”!

You’re aware that early disciples were of Jewish descent, and, no doubt, were looking or hoping for a new physical tabernacle to be rebuilt, because of prophecy, they knew the “Temple” in Jerusalem would soon be destroyed, but, immaturely, they hadn’t seen themselves as the True Temple of the Resurrected Christ! In Hebrews 8:1-2 we read: Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest (Christ Jesus), who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary AND of the true tabernacle (or Temple) which the Lord erected, and not man.”

Have YOU ever considered the “revelation-truth” that redeemed, born-again lives, become, by His grace, His mercy, His eternal intent, that “redeemed lives” become holy temples with each new man or woman of faith being a “foundation stone” of the ‘over-all structure of His abiding Presence in us’ as “true temples”? It’s THROUGH YOU, man or woman of true faith, that the Light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who IS the image of God, should shine in you and through you!

Reflect upon Hebrews 3:5-6! “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house (Is that the ‘wilderness’ tabernacle”?) as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, BUT CHRIST as a Son over His own house, whose house we are IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

YOU must examine the Holy Word and reflect upon whether or not you are a true son or true daughter in God’s Holy Family! The Hebrews author continued expanding understanding about “Holy Temple soundness”! In Hebrews 3:7-19 we read, examine, and determine to what or Who we are truly committed!! It says:

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, IF you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” THEREFORE:

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another DAILY, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, DO NOT harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

For who, having heard, rebelled? Did the Hebrew author speak of those who possess evil hearts of unbelief and willfully depart from the living God? Did he also alert us to mind, will, and heart-hardening through the deceitfulness of sin? Oh, and is there also the tragedy of hearing the Word, knowing the Word, but it didn’t and doesn’t profit some because of “Not being mixed with faith IN those who heard it”? Remember, Jesus said to some, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, BUT you do not do what I say”??!!

Do you see “obedience to the Word of God in Christ” as evidence that one has been born again? In Romans 16:25-27 we read, “Now to Him who is able to establish you (or ‘make you to ‘stand in Him’ completed, obedient, and Christ-honoring!!) according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH – to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”

You do understand: “obedience is not an option disciples of Christ hold”, but it is the outward expression of Who healed us, honored us by choosing us for Himself, and Who reminded disciples then and disciples now: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, BUT you do not do what I say?” Do you do what Jesus says as His earthly mediator between Holy God, King Jesus, and His Holy Spirit to the unredeemed around you, even to your own family and friends?

In Colossians 1:9-18 we’re given another ‘wake-up call’ to true disciples. Paul was concerned that some in the Colossians community had very little understanding of the “preeminence of Christ in them”. It says: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience (or steadfastness) and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has QUALIFIED us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image (exact likeness!) of the invisible God, the firstborn over all (new) creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (I’d be amiss, off-track, deceived, uncaring for you, if I didn’t ask you: “Does Christ Jesus have preeminence in you, over you, through you, leading you to let Him have His way in your heart and life?”).

“Foundation Stones of the Holy Temple of Christ?” And those are “living stones”, but so valuable in unveiling Christ to all those who come in contact to the “Holy Temple of Christ,” YOUR redeemed, born-again, Spirit-filled life, walk, and personal testimony! I’m sure it’s why in 1 Peter 1:13-16 we read as a “wake-up call” in our Spirit-Kingdom Presence: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober (or serious minded!), and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation (or unveiling) of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also BE HOLY IN ALL YOUR CONDUCT, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” AND THAT’S NOT AN OPTION YOU HOLD BUT A VISIBLE DEMONSTRATION OF AN INWARD REALITY OF THE WORKING OF SOVEREIGN GRACE AND MERCY!

“Foundation Stones of the Holy Temple of Christ?” Continue in 1 Peter 1:22-2:10!! It says: “SINCE YOU HAVE PURIFIED YOUR SOULS IN OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT [Can’t you hear the ‘naysayers’ rising up? “That’s ‘salvation by works’!” NO! That’s obedience to the Word because one has been ‘born again’ by faith in Christ’s Work at the Cross and empty tomb!] in sincere love of the brethren, love one another with a pure heart, HAVING BEEN BORN AGAIN, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God WHICH LIVES AND ABIDES FOREVER, because

‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, BUT the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”

1 Peter 2:1-10 follows, convicting, educating, and inspiring us: “THEREFORE, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, and evil speaking, (That, my friends, IS what true, born-again, yes, maturing children of True Faith DO!), as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may GROW THEREBY, IF INDEED you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.(“IF”? Does that mean true discipleship is ‘conditional’?).

Coming to Him AS A LIVING STONE, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, AS LIVING STONES, are being built up a spiritual house, (THAT IS, “a holy temple, an earthly kingdom of grace and mercy and love, Holy God’s spiritual family of “blood-bought faith”), a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is also contained in Holy Scripture: (Isaiah 28), “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, (trust in, rely upon, adhere to!), He is precious, but to those WHO ARE DISOBEDIENT, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” (Psalm 118), AND “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed. (2 Timothy 2:19!). BUT you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but ARE NOW the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now HAVE OBTAINED MERCY!”

There’s an old, old hymn that was written by Julia H. Johnston, who entered high school in about 1865, but started writing hymns and songs when she was about nine years of age. It was 1911 when she wrote the following hymn: “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on Calvary’s mount out-poured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide, what can avail to wash it away! Look! There is flowing a crimson tide; Whiter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe; you that are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.”

It was Dwight L. Moody who once preached: “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” And to the ‘fully consecrated man’? In Ecclesiastes 2:26 the “wise man” wrote:

“For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; (That’s the man whose daily aim, ambition, and faithful desire IS to Please God!) but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good (or godly) before God.” HOW SWEET IS THAT?

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, MAY 20-21,2019

HOW AWARE ARE “YOU” OF HEAVENLY VISIONS OR,YES,THE TESTIMONIES OF OTHERS OF VITAL MOMENTS WHEN THEY “KNEW” HOLY GOD WAS SPEAKING INTO THEIR LIVES? HIGHLY INTERESTING VERSES ARE FOUND IN ACTS 26 AS WE READ ABOUT PAUL SHARING WITH KING AGRIPPA! VERSES 13-23 SAYS: “AT MIDDAY, O KING, I SAW IN THE WAY A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN, ABOVE THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE SUN,SHINING ROUND ABOUT ME & THEM WHICH JOURNEYED WITH ME.

AND WHEN WE WERE ALL FALLEN TO THE EARTH, I HEARD A VOICE SPEAKING UNTO ME, & SAYING IN THE HEBREW TONGUE, “SAUL, SAUL, WHY DO YOU PERSECUTE ME? IT IS HARD FOR YOU TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS.” AND PAUL SAID, “WHO ARE YOU, LORD?” AND HE SAID, “I AM JESUS WHOM YOU PERSECUTE. BUT RISE, & STAND UPON YOUR FEET: FOR I HAVE APPEARED UNTO YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO MAKE YOU A MINISTER & A WITNESS BOTH OF THESE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, & OF THOSE THINGS IN THE WHICH I WILL APPEAR UNTO YOU;

DELIVERING YOU FROM THE PEOPLE, & FROM THE GENTILES,UNTO WHOM NOW I SEND YOU:TO OPEN THEIR EYES,& TO TURN THEM FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, & FROM THE POWER OF SATAN UNTO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, & INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH THAT IS IN ME.” WHEREUPON, O KING AGRIPPA, I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT UNTO THE HEAVENLY VISION:

BUT SHOWED FIRST UNTO THEM OF DAMASCUS, & AT JERUSALEM, & THROUGHOUT ALL THE COASTS OF JUDEA, & THEN TO THE GENTILES, THAT THEY SHOULD REPENT & TURN TO GOD, & DO WORKS MEET FOR REPENTANCE. FOR THESE CAUSES THE JEWS CAUGHT ME IN THE TEMPLE, & WENT ABOUT TO KILL ME.

HAVING THEREFORE OBTAINED HELP OF GOD, I CONTINUE UNTO THIS DAY, WITNESSING BOTH TO SMALL & GREAT, SAYING NONE OTHER THINGS THAN THOSE WHICH THE PROPHETS & MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME: THAT CHRIST SHOULD SUFFER, & THAT HE SHOULD BE THE FIRST THAT SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD, & SHOULD SHOW LIGHT UNTO THE PEOPLE, & TO THE GENTILES.” THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS AN AMAZING, CONVICTING, LIFE-CHANGING REVELATION! WHAT GOD DID FOR PAUL, HE STILL DOES TODAY, & WILL DO FOR YOU ALSO!!

GOD’S CALLING THROUGH “HEAVENLY VISIONS” “IS” PERSONAL & PREEMPTIVE & POWERFUL & PERSUASIVE, TAKING EVEN DOUBTING MEN & WOMEN OUT OF THEIR SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS INTO “ETERNAL REALITY” OF HOLY GOD’S COMPASSIONATE, LOVING, MERCIFUL HELP, FROM ‘SINNERS’ TO “SAINTS”, FROM EARTHLY, SELF-CENTERED BEINGS INTO HEAVENLY CITIZENS OF CHRIST’S ETERNAL KINGDOM LIVING & MINISTRY, FROM TEMPORARY,EARTHLY ALLEGIANCE TO THE CROSS, TOMB, & RESURRECTED PRESENCE OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST, ALIVE & WELL ON PLANET EARTH IN THE HEARTS OF “BLOOD-WASHED”, TRANSFORMED, ‘MADE-ALIVE-IN-CHRIST’ SERVANTS, FOOT-WASHERS, MESSENGERS, AMBASSADORS OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!!!!

OH, BUT THEN IN 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23a, PAUL SAID: “FOR I HAVE RECEIVED OF THE LORD THAT WHICH I ALSO DELIVERED UNTO YOU.” DO YOU SEE,SENSE,& SEPARATE YOURSELF UNTO THE MISSION & MINISTRY OF CHRIST IN TOUCHING OTHERS AROUND YOU WITH CHRIST’S LOVE, GRACE, & MERCY? ARE “YOU” CHRIST’S AMBASSADOR IN & AROUND WHERE YOU LIVE? LET’S EXAMINE GOD’S CALLING!

FIRST: THERE IS THE CALL OF GOD UPON EVERY BORN-AGAIN DISCIPLE THE,YES, ‘MINISTRY’ OF IMPACTING A LOST & DYING WORLD WITH GOD’S, THE HOLY SPIRIT’S, & CHRIST’S DESIRE TO ‘SAVE THE WORLD’! DID PAUL SAY TO KING AGRIPPA, “I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT TO THE HEAVENLY VISION”? QUESTION! AS A ‘PROFESSING’,OR ‘CONFESSING’, OR ‘POSSESSING’ DISCIPLE OF CHRIST IN THE 21^ST CENTURY, OF,YES, HIS CALLING YOU IN YOUR HEAVENLY VISION, ARE YOU DISOBEDIENT OR OBEDIENT? IN GALATIANS 2:20-21a, PAUL WROTE: “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST; NEVERTHELESS I LIVE;YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME; & THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, & GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME. 21a, I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GIFT OF GOD.”

IN GALATIANS 4:19 PAUL SAID, “MY LITTLE CHILDREN, OF WHOM I TRAVAIL IN BIRTH AGAIN UNTIL CHRIST IS FORMED (FULLY) IN YOU.” SALVATION IN CHRIST IS INITIAL IN BIRTHING BY THE SPIRIT, IT IS PROGRESSIVE FROM BABES, CHILDREN, & YOUTH, IT IS ULTIMATE IN ONE TRULY, FULLY, YIELDINGLY, BEING AVAILABLE AS THE “TEMPLE” IN & THROUGH WHICH CHRIST CONTINUES HIS MINISTRY “THROUGH YOU”!!

AND IN THAT PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUAL STATE OVER THE YEARS AS ONE MATURES, IN THE BOOK OF ACTS YOU LEARN ABOUT DISCIPLES THAT WERE “STORM-TOSSED”, “SHIP-WRECKED”, & EVEN “SNAKE-BITTEN”, BUT THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST INSPIRED THEM, UPLIFTED THEM, & CROWNED THEM AS FAITHFUL SOLDIERS OF THE CHRIST OF THE CROSS & EMPTY TOMB!!

ACTS 1:8 SAYS, “BUT YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COME UPON YOU; & YOU SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME BOTH IN JERUSALEM, & IN ALL JUDEA, & IN SAMARIA, & UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH.” TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RECEPTION OF CHRIST’S CALLING OF YOU TO BE HIS “CHOSEN WITNESS”! THE MASTER’S MANDATE INSTILLED BY GOD IN HIS SON BY THE HOLY SPIRIT IS “YOUR” MANDATE IF TRULY YOU ARE CHRIST’S NEW-BORN CHILD OF FAITH EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

SECOND, THERE MUST BE THE AWARENESS IN YOU, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PRESENCE, THAT YOUR ‘CALLING’ IS THE CONSIDERATION OF THE NEEDS OF THOSE WE ENCOUNTER, & THAT THE ONE’S WE “WIN” TO FAITH IN CHRIST ARE NOT A NOTCH ON A CERTAIN CHURCH’S GUN! LOST,ALIENATED,SEPARATED,WANDERING ‘SHEEP’ ARE TO BE RECONCILED TO “THE TRUE SHEPHERD”, CHRIST JESUS! SPURGEON, IN HIS WRITING ENTITLED “SOUL-WINNING”, (P.13) SAID: “DO NOT CONSIDER THAT SOUL-WINNING IS OR CAN BE SECURED BY THE MULTIPLICATIONS OF BAPTISMS & THE SWELLING SIZE OF YOUR CHURCH…WHAT DO THESE DISPATCHES FROM THE BATTLEFIELDS MEAN? LAST NIGHT 14 SOULS WERE UNDER CONVICTION, 15 WERE JUSTIFIED, & 8 RECEIVED FULL SANCTIFICATION.’ I AM WEARY OF THE PUBLIC BRAGGING, THIS COUNTING OF UNHATCHED CHICKENS, THIS EXHIBITION OF DOUBTFUL SPORTS. LAY ASIDE SUCH NUMBERINGS OF THE PEOPLE, SUCH IDLE PRETENSE OF CERTIFYING IN HALF-A-MINUTE THAT WHICH WILL NEED THE TESTING OF A LIFETIME.”

GOD ISN’T INTERESTED IN YOUR’S OR A CHURCH’S STATISTICS – HE’S INTERESTED IN THEIR TRUE CONVERSIONS BASED UPON GENUINE REPENTANCE & GRACED SALVATION; GOD’S NOT INTERESTED IN OUR RANKING IN ONE’S STATE OF LIFE IN COMPARISON TO OTHERS – HE’S INTERESTED IN OUR RESCUE, OUR RENEWAL, & OUR RELEASE AS THE “AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST”!! GOD ISN’T INTERESTED IN YOUR ‘SPIRITUAL PRIDE’ ABOUT THE ‘JOB’ YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING FOR HIM – HE’S INTERESTED IN THOSE SAVED WHO’VE SENSED THE URGENCY OF THEIR CALLING, & THEN HUNGER FOR THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THEM & THROUGH THEM WHO,YES, GUIDES THEM IN THEIR ‘WITNESS’ TO THOSE STILL SEPARATED FROM GOD!

ACTS 26:15-19 TELLS US OF PAUL’S EARLY CONVERSATION WITH THE LORD: AND I,PAUL, SAID, “WHO ARE YOU, LORD?” AND HE SAID, “I AM JESUS WHOM YOU’VE BEEN PERSECUTING. BUT RISE, & STAND UPON YOUR FEET;FOR I HAVE APPEARED UNTO YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO MAKE YOU A MINISTER & A WITNESS BOTH OF THESE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, & OF THOSE THINGS IN THE WHICH I WILL APPEAR UNTO YOU;

DELIVERING THEM FROM THE PEOPLE, & FROM THE GENTILES, UNTO WHOM I NOW SEND YOU: TO OPEN THEIR EYES, & TO TURN THEM FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, & FROM THE POWER OF SATAN UNTO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, & INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH THAT IS IN CHRIST.” THEREUPON, O KING AGRIPPA, I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT UNTO THE HEAVENLY VISION.” LOOK CAREFULLY AT VERSE 18 AGAIN!! THAT’S AFTER THE LORD SAID:

• HE WAS SPEAKING ABOUT PROCLAIMING SAVING TRUTH!
• HE WAS ENCOURAGING WITNESSING, PREACHING, TEACHING, EVANGELIZING, WITH ‘FIRE IN YOUR BONES’!
• HE WAS ALERTING TRUE DISCIPLES OF POSITIONING THEMSELVES AS A ‘WITNESS’ IN THE FULLNESS & ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT,LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, WALK & WITNESS IN THE SPIRIT!
• HE WAS SAYING: HAVING POSITIONED YOURSELF UNDER THE SPIRIT’S ANOINTING,PRACTICALLY STAND ON FAITHFULNESS OF THE WORD & THE SPIRIT PROCLAIMING THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST! IN ACTS 20:17-24 PAUL TESTIFIED:AND FROM MILETUS HE SENT TO EPHESUS, & CALLED THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH. AND WHEN THEY WERE COME TO HIM, HE SAID UNTO THEM, YOU KNOW, FROM THE FIRST DAY THAT I CAME INTO ASIA, AFTER WHAT MANNER I HAVE BEEN WITH YOU AT ALL SEASONS, SERVING THE LORD WITH ALL HUMILITY OF MIND, & WITH MANY TEARS, & TEMPTATIONS, WHICH BEFELL ME BY THE LYING IN WIT OF THE JEWS:

AND HOW I KEPT BACK NOTHING THAT WAS PROFITABLE UNTO YOU, BUT SHOWED YOU, & HAVE TAUGHT YOU PUBLICLY, & FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE. TESTIFYING BOTH TO THE JEWS, & ALSO TO THE GREEKS, REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD, & FAITH TOWARD OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND NOW, BEHOLD, I GO BOUND IN THE SPIRIT UNTO JERUSALEM, NOT KNOWING THE THINGS THAT SHALL BEFALL ME THERE:SAVE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WITNESSES IN EVERY CITY, SAYING, THAT BONDS & AFFLICTIONS ABIDE ME.

BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME, NEITHER COUNT I MY LIFE DEAR UNTO MYSELF, SO THAT I MIGHT FINISH MY COURSE WITH JOY, & THE MINISTRY, WHICH I HAVE RECEIVED OF THE LORD JESUS, TO TESTIFY THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD.

SPURGEON USED TO PREACH ABOUT, “TRUE BELIEF & TRUE REPENTANCE ARE TWINS,” BUT AS I READ THE WORD OF GOD, I SEE, FOR HIS TRUE SERVANTS, TRUE BELIEF, TRUE REPENTANCE, TRUE ETERNAL LIFE, & TRUE FAITHFUL WITNESS TO ALL THE SPIRITUALLY NEEDY!! SPURGEON ALSO SAID: “IDLE ARE THE BOASTS OF A MAN WHO HARBORS WITHIN HIMSELF THE LOVE OF ANY TRANSGRESSION. HE MAY FEEL WHAT HE LIKES, & BELIEVE WHAT HE LIKES, BUT HE IS STILL IN THE GALL OF BITTERNESS & THE BONDS OF INIQUITY WHILE A SINGLE SIN RULES HIS HEART & LIFE. TRUE REGENERATION IMPLANTS A HATRED OF ALL EVIL. WHERE ONE SIN IS DELIGHTED IN, THE EVIDENCE IS “FATAL” TO A SOUND HOPE. A MAN NEED NOT TAKE A DOZEN POISONS TO DESTROY HIS LIFE; ONE IS QUITE SUFFICIENT.”

• PAUL WAS SAYING: “YOUR CALLING “IN CHRIST” IS THE CALL OF DIVINE EXPERIENCE & DIVINE EXPRESSION! AGAIN ACTS 26:16-18 AS A REFRESHING REMINDER: “RISE,&STAND UPON YOUR FEET; FOR I HAVE APPEARED UNTO YOU FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO MAKE YOU A MINISTER & A WITNESS BOTH OF THESE THINGS WHICH YOU HAVE SEEN, & OF THOSE THINGS IN THE WHICH I WILL APPEAR TO YOU.

DELIVERING YOU FROM THE PEOPLE & THE GENTILES, UNTO WHOM I NOW SEND YOU:TO OPEN THEIR EYES, & TO TURN THEM FROM THE DARKNESS TO LIGHT, & FROM THE POWER OF SATAN UNTO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, & INHERITANCE AMONG THEM WHICH ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH THAT IS IN CHRIST!

THIS ALSO TELLS US THAT OUR CALLING IS A CALL OF TRUST & DEPENDENCE! ACTS 26:22 SAYS, “HAVING THEREFORE OBTAINED HELP OF GOD, I CONTINUE…” & CONTINUING TO BE FAITHFUL & OBEDIENT, IT LED HIM TO BE MARTYRED FOR THE FAITH.

THAT, MY FRIENDS, MAY AWAIT YOU OR ME, WHEN GODLESS MEN & NATIONS DETERMINE YOU’RE TOO GREAT A RISK TO ALLOW YOU TO CONTINUE! BUT “TRUTH” NEVER DIES – IT’S JUST TRANSFERRED TO A BETTER PLACE OF ETERNAL REST IN CHRIST!! AMEN?

REV.J.K.ALWOOD WROTE THE HYMN “THE UNCLOUDED DAY” IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE, TENN., IN 1940! IT SAYS: “O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME FAR BEYOND THE SKIES, O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME FAR AWAY; O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME WHERE NO STORM-CLOUDS RISE, O THEY TELL ME OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY.

O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME WHERE MY FRIENDS HAVE GONE, O THEY TELL ME OF THAT LAND FAR AWAY, WHERE THE TREE OF LIFE IN ETERNAL BLOOM SHEDS ITS FRAGRANCE THRO’ THE UNCLOUDED DAY.

O THEY TELL ME OF A KING IN HIS BEAUTY THERE, & THEY TELL ME THAT MY EYES SHALL BEHOLD WHERE HE SITS ON THE THRONE THAT IS WHITER THAN SNOW, IN THE CITY THAT IS MADE OF GOLD.

O THEY TELL ME THAT HE SMILES ON HIS CHILDREN THERE, & HIS SMILE DRIVES THEIR SORROWS ALL AWAY; & THEY TELL ME THAT NO TEARS EVER COME AGAIN, IN THAT LOVELY LAND OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY.

O THE LAND OF CLOUDLESS DAY, O THE LAND OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY; O THEY TELL ME OF A HOME WHERE NO STORM-CLOUDS RISE, O THEY TELL ME OF AN UNCLOUDED DAY.”

HAS YOUR ‘SORROW’ MELTED BY YOUR SAVIOR’S SWEET VOICE? HAS YOUR ‘PAIN’ BEEN ARRESTED BY CHRIST’S FAITHFUL PRESENCE? HAS YOUR ‘HEART-ACHE’ BEEN TRANSFERRED INTO A HALLELUJAH CHORUS BECAUSE OF YOUR LORD’S HELPING HAND?

“IN CHRIST”,EVERYDAY SHOULD BE A SONG OF PRAISE, EVERY TRIAL THE RINGING OF HIS TRIUMPHANT VICTORY EVEN THROUGH HIS CROSS, EVERY TESTING,TROUBLING MOMENT SHOULD ERUPT IN YOUR HYMN OF PRAISE FOR HIS SUSTAINING, ABIDING, OVERCOMING PRESENCE, EVERY TRIBULATION MUST BE “EYES OFF SELF –EYES FULLY ON JESUS ONLY”!

“IN CHRIST”, EVERYDAY SHOULD BE A DISCIPLE’S CELEBRATION OF THE “VICTORY IN JESUS”! FANNY CROSBY & ROBERT LOWRY WROTE THE OLD HYMN “ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME”,( THE AMERICAN HYMNAL, PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.) THAT SAYS: “ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME; WHAT HAVE I TO ASK BESIDE? CAN I DOUBT HIS TENDER MERCY, WHO THRO’ LIFE HAS BEEN MY GUIDE? HEAVENLY PEACE, DIVINEST COMFORT, HERE BY FAITH IN HIM TO DWELL! FOR I KNOW, WHATE’ER BEFALL ME, JESUS DOES SLL THINGS WELL.

ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME, CHEERS EACH WINDING PATH I TREAD, GIVES ME GRACE FOR EVERY TRIAL, FEEDS ME WITH THE LIVING BREAD. THOUGH MY WEARY STEPS MAY FALTER, & MY SOUL ATHIRST MAY BE, GUSHING FROM THE “ROCK” BEFORE ME, LO! A SPRING OF JOY I SEE.

ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME; OH, THE FULLNESS OF HIS LOVE! PERFECT REST TO ME IS PROMISED IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ABOVE. WHEN MY SPIRIT, CLOTHED IMMORTAL, WINGS ITS FLIGHT TO REALMS OF DAY, THIS MY SONG THRO’ ENDLESS AGES; JESUS LED ME ALL THE WAY. AMEN?

(MCF 2000, NAGAR 2000) BY:J.FARRELL FISHER (UPDATED:MAY 17-18,2019!)

THE TITLE OF THE MESSAGE TODAY SUGGESTS OR IMPLIES THAT THERE CAN BE MAJOR ROADBLOCKS IN EFFECTIVE, REDEMPTIVE PRAYER. ARE YOU AWARE OF THAT? LET ME INFORM YOU OF THE MEANING OF THE WORD ‘HINDRANCE’,IF YOU DON’T ALREADY KNOW: FROM NOAH WEBSTER’S 1828 DICTIONARY, ‘HINDRANCE’ MEANS, “THE ACTS OF IMPEDING OR RESTRAINING MOTION…IMPEDIMENT; THAT WHICH STOPS PROGRESS OR ADVANCE; OBSTRUCTION.”

1 PETER 3:7 IS VERY CLEAR WHEN IT SAYS, “…THAT YOUR PRAYERS MAY NOT BE HINDERED.” IN REV.5:8 THE WORD SAYS, “NOW WHEN (THE LAMB, THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH) HAD THE SCROLL, THE 4 LIVING CREATURES & THE 24 ELDERS FELL DOWN BEFORE THE LAMB, EACH HAVING A HARP,AND GOLDEN BOWLS OF INCENSE “WHICH ARE THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS.”

AND THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS ARE PRECIOUS TO GOD. THEY PLEASE HIM.YET AT THE VERY SAME TIME PSALM 66:18 SAYS, “IF I REGARD INIQUITY IN MY HEART, THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR.” THE WORD “REGARD” COMES FROM A HEBREW WORD MEANING “TO SEE”, “TO HAVE”, “TO RESPECT”, “TO APPROVE”, “TO GAZE ON OR TAKE HEED TO”. IF ‘INIQUITY’ IS IN MY HEART OR MIND, THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR ME.

BUT THAT’S NOT GOD’S HEART OR DESIRE FOR ANYONE OF US, BUT THERE ARE SPIRITUAL LAWS ESTABLISHED BY GOD FOR A FRUITFUL WALK IN THE KINGDOM AREA OF PRAYER, & IF THOSE LAWS ARE VIOLATED, WE’VE PERSONALLY CHOSEN TO EXEMPT OURSELVES FROM GOD’S BLESSINGS. TO THE GALATIANS, (6:7), PAUL SAID CORRECTLY, “DO NOT BE DECEIVED, GOD IS NOT MOCKED; FOR WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, THAT HE WILL ALSO REAP.” YET IN JOHN 11:42 JESUS SPOKE CONFIDENTLY & SAID TO THE FATHER, “I KNOW THAT “YOU” ALWAYS HEAR ME.” WHY? BECAUSE JESUS SOWED THE SEEDS OF FAITH & OBEDIENCE, NOT THE WILD TARES OF UNBELIEF & DISOBEDIENCE TO THE NATURE & CHARACTER OF GOD!

THE ONE THING I WANT YOU TO KNOW TODAY IS THAT THE ‘NORMAL’ FOR THE DISCIPLE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST “IS TO LIVE IN CONSTANT COMMUNION WITH GOD & TO LIVE THE ABUNDANT, JOYFUL, FRUITFUL LIFE OF DAILY ANSWERED PRAYER”.

BUT YOU KNOW HOW A WATER-LINE CAN SOMETIME BUILD UP A CORRISON & ALL OF A SUDDEN THE FLOW OF FRESH WATER IS STOPPED. IN THE SAME WAY, THERE CAN COME A TIME WHEN OUR PRAYERS ARE NOT GETTING THROUGH BECAUSE THERE IS A ‘BLOCKAGE’. IN LEVITICUS 26:19 GOD SAID, “I WILL BREAK THE PRIDE OF YOUR POWER; I WILL MAKE YOUR HEAVENS LIKE IRON & YOUR EARTH LIKE BRONZ.” IT’S NOT AN ‘OPEN’ HEAVEN!!

DAVID SAID IN PSALM 35:13 THAT HE WOULD PRAY, EVEN FAST, BUT (LISTEN!!), “MY PRAYER WOULD RETURN TO MY OWN BOSOM OR HEART.” EVEN JEREMIAH, THE WEEPING PROPHET, SAID IN LAMENTATIONS 3:8-9, “EVEN WHEN I CRY & SHOUT,HE (GOD) SHUTS OUT MY PRAYER…HE HAS BLOCKED MY WAYS WITH HEWN STONES; HE HAS MADE MY PATHS CROOKED.”

IN VERSE 44 OF THE SAME CHAPTER, JEREMIAH SAID, “YOU HAVE COVERED YOURSELF WITH A CLOUD, THAT PRAYER SHOULD NOT PASS THROUGH.” “THAT” SOUNDS SERIOUS! IT’S MAJOR! AND SOMETHING HAS CLOSED THE ‘FREE-WAY’ TO HEAVEN’S HEART! IT GETS REAL SERIOUS IN ISAIAH 1:15 WHEN GOD SAID TO HIS PEOPLE, “WHEN YOU SPREAD OUT YOUR HANDS, I WILL HIDE MY EYES FROM YOU; EVEN THO’ YOU MAKE MANY PRAYERS, I WILL NOT HEAR.YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD.”

I DON’T WANT OUR PRAYERS TO BE A ‘MESS’ BEFORE GOD; I WANT THEM GOING UP AS A “MEMORIAL”! I DON’T WANT TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD WITH MY MOUTH ONLY & HONOR HIM WITH MY LIPS WHILE MY HEART IS FAR FROM HIM LIKE THE PHARISEES – I WANT TO BE ONE WITH HIM. I DON’T WANT TO TRIFLE AT THE THRONE WITH IGNORAMUS TIDBITS – I WANT TO BE JOINED IN TRUTH & TRUST WITH THE CHRIST OF CALVARY.

I GREW UP ON A GREAT OLD HYMN & THE CHORUS SAYS THIS: “NOTHING BETWEEN MY SOUL & THE SAVIOR, SO THAT HIS BLESSED FACE MAY BE SEEN; NOTHING PREVENTING THE LEAST OF HIS FAVOR, KEEP THE WAY CLEAR! LET NOTHING BETWEEN.” IS THERE SOMETHING BETWEEN YOU & JESUS?IS THERE A MAJOR HINDRANCE TO EFFECTIVE MINISTRY OF YOUR PRAYER LIFE? THE VERSES OF THAT OLD HYMN SAYS:

“NOTHING BETWEEN MY SOUL & THE SAVIOR, NAUGHT OF THIS WORLD’S DELUSIVE DREAM; I HAVE RENOUNCED ALL SINFUL PLEASURE, JESUS IS MINE, THERE’S NOTHING BETWEEN.

NOTHING BETWEEN LIKE WORLDLY PLEASURE;HABITS OF LIFE,THO’ HARMLESS THEY SEEM, MUST NOT MY HEART FROM HIM EVER SEVER – HE IS MY ALL, THERE’S NOTHING BETWEEN.

NOTHING BETWEEN, LIKE PRIDE OR STATION;SELF OR FRIENDS SHALL NOT INTERVENE; THO’ IT MAY COST ME MUCH TRIBULATION, I AM RESOLVED, THERE’S NOTHING BETWEEN.

NOTHING BETWEEN, E’EN MANY HARD TRIALS, THO’ THE WHOLE WORLD AGAINST ME CONVENE; WATCHING WITH PRAYER & MUCH SELF-DENIAL,I’LL TRIUMPH AT LAST, WITH NOTHING BETWEEN.” HOW GLORIOUS, MARVELOUS, & AWE-INSPIRING IS THAT?!?

BUT, IN THIS MOMENT, SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT! IN THIS MOMENT, THERE’S MAJOR BLOCKAGES! IN THIS MOMENT HINDRANCES ARE ABOUNDING! IN THIS MOMENT, HEAVEN HAS CLOSED – & YOU KNOW IT!! THOMAS BENTON BROOKS WROTE: “GOD HEARS NO MORE THAN THE HEART SPEAKS; & IF THE HEART BE DUMB, GOD WILL CERTAINLY BE DEAF.”

SOMETIMES GOD IS DEAF TO OUR CRIES BECAUSE WE TREAT HIM LIKE “A COSMIC BELL-BOY”. SILENCE COMES FROM HEAVEN’S SIDE BECAUSE WE’VE SEEN HIM LIKE OUR PERSONAL ‘ERRAND-RUNNER’! SOMETIMES IT’S EXPECTATION APART FROM APPRECIATION! SOMETIMES IT’S EVEN EARNESTNESS WITHOUT ANY TRUE EXPRESSION OF FAITH! SOMETIMES IT’S AN INFREQUENT OR OCCASIONAL IMPULSE LIKE AN UNIMPORTANT CALL TO A DUTY THAT DOESN’T HAVE OUR HEARTS!

SOMETIMES IT’S PRESUMPTION OR ASSUMING THAT WE KNOW WHAT GOD MUST DO! SOMETIMES IT’S THE HIGH SOUNDS OF UNCEASING WORDS SEEKING ONLY TO GET GOD DOWN TO OUR POINT OF VIEW RATHER THAN SUBMISSION TO WHAT WE KNOW GOD WOULD HAVE US DO! SOMETIMES IT’S THE FINEST OF PHRASES, BUT EMPTY, BECAUSE IT’S HEARTLESS PRAYING RATHER THAN LAYING HOLD OF GOD HIMSELF & ALL HE IS!! 1 PETER 3:12 SAYS, “FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE OVER THE RIGHTEOUS, & HIS EARS ARE OPEN UNTO THEIR PRAYERS: BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THEM THAT DO EVIL.” THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS SERIOUS CONFRONTATION BETWEEN A MAN CHOOSING TO SIN WILLFULLY & BETWEEN HOLY GOD THAT SEEKS THE ONE AFTER HIS OWN HEART & MIND!

“MAJOR HINDRANCES TO THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER”? FIRST, THERE IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF A DIVIDED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUSBANDS & WIVES!! READ 1 PETER 3:1-7, NOTING SPECIFICALLY VERSE 7, “THAT YOUR PRAYERS MAY NOT BE HINDERED,” WHICH IS NOT A STATEMENT ONLY FOR ‘HUSBANDS’. THE FIRST 6 VERSES ARE LAID OUT TO SHOW HOW A WIFE CAN BE THE BLOCKAGE TO ANSWERED PRAYER!

IF YOU READ THOSE SIX VERSES OVER & OVER AGAIN SEEKING TO HEAR WHAT GOD IS SAYING TO THE WOMAN ABOUT WHY HER PRAYERS ARE NOT ANSWERED, I BELIEVE YOU COULD SUM IT UP IN ONE WORD – “REBELLION”!! LISTEN TO DR.JOHN R.RICE, (IN “PRAYER”, SWORD OF THE LORD PUBLISHERS, P.281), “REBELLION IS THE SIN OF FALLEN ANGELS. REBELLION IS THE SIN WHICH DAMNS EVERY CHRIST-REJECTING SINNER. REBELLION AGAINST AUTHORITY IS THE HEART OF ALL CRIME, & EVERY CRIMINAL IN A PENITENTIARY HAS BEEN GUILTY FIRST, NOT OF MURDER, NOR OF THEFT, BUT HAS BEEN GUILTY FIRST OF REBELLION AGAINST AUTHORITY. THIS WAS THE SIN OF THE PRODIGAL SON. REBELLION IS THE VERY HEART OF ALL SIN. DEAR CHRISTIAN WIFE, GOD SAYS THAT IF YOU WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO YOUR HUSBAND THAT YOUR PRAYERS ARE HINDERED.” SO TRUE!!

GOD DECLARES THROUGH PETER THAT YOUR HUSBAND IS NOT WON OVER BY OUTWARD BEAUTY ALONE, BUT (LISTEN!!), VERSE 4, “LET IT BE THE HIDDEN PERSON OF THE HEART, WITH THE INCORRUPTIBLE ORNAMENT OF A GENTLE & QUIET SPIRIT, “WHICH IS VERY PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD”.” BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN HUSBANDS ARE OFF THE HOOK BECAUSE THEY HAVE A REBELLIOUS WIFE. IT MAY BE THAT WIVES ‘REBEL’ AGAINST EVERYTHING THEIR HUSBANDS ARE NOT!

3 THINGS THAT GOD SAYS TO HUSBANDS: 1) “DWELL WITH THEM IN UNDERSTANDING”; IN OTHER WORDS, “LIVE WITH YOUR WIFE ACCORDING TO THE BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE OF HEALTHY MARITAL BLISS & BLESSING”! FIND OUT FROM THE WORD OF GOD WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF YOU!

2) “GIVING HONOR TO THE WIFE, AS TO THE WEAKER VESSEL…” IT DOESN’T SAY SHE ‘IS’ THE WEAKER VESSEL! IN FACT, I’VE SEEN MANY WIVES FAR BEYOND THE STRENGTH OF HUSBANDS IN MANY AREAS. HE SAID: “…AS TO THE WEAKER VESSEL;” SHE’S LIKE PRICELESS CHINA OR CRYSTAL THAT MUST BE CAREFULLY CARED FOR! SHE’S NOT A FLOWER WITHOUT FRAGRANCE! SHE’S NOT A BODY WITHOUT A MIND! SHE’S NOT A PARTNER WITHOUT A CONTRIBUTION TO MAKE! MARTIN LUTHER ONCE WROTE: “EARTH HAS NOTHING MORE TENDER THAN A WOMAN’S HEART WHEN IT IS THE ABODE OF PIETY.” SO TRUE!

THOMAS OTWAY, IN “VENICE PRESERVED”, WROTE: “O WOMAN! LOVELY WOMAN! NATURE MADE YOU TO TEMPER MAN: WE HAD BEEN BRUTES WITHOUT YOU; ANGELS ARE PAINTED FAIR, TO LOOK LIKE YOU; THERE’S IN YOU ALL THAT WE BELIEVE OF HEAVEN, AMAZING BRIGHTNESS, PURITY, & TRUTH, ETERNAL JOY & EVERLASTING LOVE.” IT’S WHY, HUSBANDS, YOU GIVE YOUR WIFE HER HONOR! BUT TO KEEP YOU ‘HUMBLE’, LADIES, LISTEN TO SPURGEON: “GOD SAVE US ALL FROM WIVES WHO ARE ANGELS IN THE STREET, SAINTS IN THE CHURCH, & DEVILS AT HOME.”

3) “AS BEING HEIRS TOGETHER OF THE GRACE OF LIFE…”, A HUSBAND TAKING HIS PLACE AS THE WIFE TAKES HER PLACE! AND WITH JOSHUA, BECAUSE WE WANT OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED: “AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE, WE WILL (UNITEDLY) SERVE THE LORD!” DO YOU REMEMBER EPHESIANS 5:20? “FOR NO ONE EVER HATED HIS OWN FLESH, BUT NOURISHES & CHERISHES IT, ‘JUST AS THE LORD DOES THE CHURCH!’”

HOME DISTURBANCES HAMPER OUR PRAYER-LIVES! HOME DISCORD DISRUPTS EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH GOD! HOME DISTRESS CALLS FOR EMERGENCY S.O.S’S OF BROKEN REPENTANCE SO WE CAN REACH GOD! HOME DISUNITY MUDDIES THE WATERS OF TRYING TO REACH OUT TO GOD! HOME DIATRIBES SILENCES THE RESPONSE OF GOD! IT’S SERIOUS!! “THAT YOUR PRAYERS MAY NOT BE HINDERED!”

SECOND: THERE IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS OF BROTHERS IN CHRIST! LISTEN TO MATTHEW 5:23-24! “THEREFORE IF YOU BRING YOUR GIFT TO THE ALTAR, & THERE REMEMBER THAT YOUR BROTHER HAS SOMETHING AGAINST YOU…LEAVE YOUR GIFT THERE BEFORE THE ALTAR, & GO YOUR WAY. FIRST BE RECONCILED TO YOUR BROTHER, & THEN COME & OFFER YOUR GIFT.”

DO YOU REMEMBER WHY JESUS SAID OF ZACCHAEUS (LUKE 18:9), “TODAY SALVATION HAS COME TO THIS HOUSE”? WHY DID JESUS SAY IT? BECAUSE HE SAW AN OUTWARD DEMONSTRATION OF A TRUE INWARD RESPONSE. IN VERSE 8, ZACCHAEUS HAD SAID, “LOOK LORD, I GIVE HALF OF MY GOODS TO THE POOR; & IF I HAVE TAKEN ANYTHING FROM ANYONE BY FALSE ACCUSATION, I RESTORE FOUR-FOLD.”

IN MATTHEW 18:15 JESUS SAID: “MOREOVER ‘IF YOUR BROTHER SINS AGAINST YOU, GO & TELL HIM HIS FAULT BETWEEN YOU & HIM ALONE. IF HE HEARS YOU, YOU HAVE GAINED YOUR BROTHER.”

WELL, WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GAINED? YOU’VE GAINED THE EAR OF GOD. YOU’VE GAINED THE OVERFLOWING HEART OF GOD WHO WANTS TO DO NOTHING BUT BLESS YOU. YOU’VE GAINED THE HELP & THE HAND OF MERCIFUL GOD!! IN PHILLIPIANS 2:3 PAUL SAID, “LET NOTHING BE DONE THROUGH SELFISH AMBITION OR CONCEIT, (KJV, ‘LET NOTHING BE DONE THROUGH STRIFE OR VAINGLORY’), BUT IN LOWLINESS OF MIND LET EACH ESTEEM OTHERS BETTER THAN HIMSELF.”

NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY SOME DON’T HAVE THEIR PRAYERS ANSWERED? THEY SEE THEMSELVES BETTER THAN OTHERS, DESERVING MORE RESPECT, “BECAUSE”: “IT’S MY WAY COME HELL OR HIGH WATER; HOT WORDS OF A HEATED EVENT? & THEY DESERVED EVERY WORD! WRONGS ARE MEDALS I WEAR PROUDLY! GRUDGES ARE GOLDEN IN MY SCHEME OF THINGS! ANGER & REVENGE ARE JUSTIFIABLE ATTITUDES IN MY COSMIC CONSTITUTION! HATCHES ARE SO HELPFUL IN SELF-JUSTIFICATION!

THE COST OF HATRED IS NOT A HIGH PRICE TO PAY WHEN I’VE BEEN WRONGED! INJURING THE OFFENDER IS EXCUSABLE! SLIGHTING THE ONE WHO HAS HURT ME IS SANE! INDULGING UNFORGIVENESS IS A ‘VIRTUE’ OF TRUE MANHOOD, NOT A VICE! I DON’T MIND DE-CLAWING THE ‘LION-HEARTED’ & EXTRACTING HIS TEETH IF HE/SHE COMES AGAINST ME – DOESN’T HE/SHE KNOW WHO I AM?”

RECEIVE MATTHEW 6:14-15!! “FOR IF YOU FORGIVE MEN THEIR TRESPASSES, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL ALSO FORGIVE YOU..BUT IF YOU DO NOT FORGIVE MEN THEIR TRESPASSES, NEITHER WILL YOUR FATHER FORGIVE YOUR TRESPASSES.” IS THAT CLEAR TO YOU? THERE CAN NEVER BE AN OUNCE OF MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN YOU & A BROTHER IF YOU WANT YOUR PRAYERS ANSWERED!!

THIRD, THERE IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF THE STRANGLING ATTITUDE OF UNFORGIVENESS! IN MATTHEW 6:12, AS JESUS TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES, HE SAID: “AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS…”. AND WHAT A CLASSIC TEACHING IS MATTHEW 18:21-35!! IT IS SO “LIFE-SHAKING”! IF THIS DOESN’T WAKE YOU UP ON YOUR PATH OF UNFORGIVENESS, “NOTHING WILL”!! IT SAYS: THEN PETER CAME TO JESUS SAYING, “LORD, HOW OFTEN SHALL MY BROTHER SIN AGAINST ME, & I SHOULD FORGIVE HIM?UNTIL SEVEN TIMES?”

JESUS SAID TO PETER: “I SAY NOT TO YOU, UNTIL SEVEN TIMES:BUT, UNTIL SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN. THEREFORE IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN LIKENED UNTO A CERTAIN KING, WHICH WOULD TAKE ACCOUNT OF HIS SERVANTS. AND WHEN HE HAD BEGUN TO RECKON, ONE WAS BROUGHT UNTO HIM, WHICH OWED HIM TEN THOUSAND TALENTS (OR $10 MILLION DOLLARS!!). BUT FORASMUCH AS HE HAD NOT TO PAY, HIS LORD COMMANDED HIM TO BE SOLD, & HIS WIFE, & CHILDREN, & ALL THAT HE HAD,AND PAYMENT TO BE MADE.

THE SERVANT THEREFORE FELL DOWN, & WORSHIPPED HIM,SAYING, LORD, HAVE PATIENCE WITH ME, & I WILL PAY YOU ALL. THEN THE LORD OF THAT SERVANT WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION, & LOOSED HIM,&FORGAVE HIM THE DEBT. BUT THE SAME SERVANT WENT OUT, & FOUND ONE OF HIS FELLOWSERVANTS, WHICH OWED HIM AN HUNDRED PENCE ($18); & HE LAID HANDS ON HIM, & TOOK HIM BY THE THROAT, SAYING, PAY ME THAT WHICH YOU OWE.

AND HIS FELLOWSERVANT FELL DOWN AT HIS FEET, & BESOUGHT HIM, SAYING, HAVE PATIENCE WITH ME, & I’LL PAY YOU ALL. AND HE WOULD NOT: BUT WENT & CAST HIM INTO PRISON TILL HE SHOULD PAY THE DEBT. SO WHEN HIS FELLWSERVANTS SAW WHAT WAS DONE, THEY WERE VERY SORRY, & CAME & TOLD THEIR LORD ALL THAT WAS DONE.

THEN HIS LORD, AFTER THAT HE HAD CALLED HIM, SAID UNTO HIM, O YOU WICKED SERVANT. I FORGAVE YOU ALL THAT DEBT, BECAUSE YOU DESIRED IT OF ME; SHOULD YOU NOT ALSO HAVE HAD COMPASSION ON YOUR FELLOWSERVANT, EVEN AS I HAD PITY ON YOU? AND HIS LORD WAS WROTH (OR ANGRY!), & DELIVERED HIM TO THE TORMENTORS, TILL HE SHOULD PAY ALL THAT WAS DUE UNTO HIM. (CK.OUT MATTHEW 5:24 &6:14-15!). VERSE 35, SO LIKEWISE SHALL MY HEAVENLY FATHER DO ALSO UNTO YOU, IF YOU, FROM THE HEART, FORGIVE NOT ONE HIS BROTHER THEIR TRESPASSES.”

NO SUN SHOULD EVER SET UNTIL YOU’VE FORGIVEN EVERY OFFENSE. NO WEEK SHOULD EVER PASS UNTIL YOU’VE WILLFULLY FORGIVEN EVERY WRONG. NO MONTH SHOULD EVER END UNTIL THERE’S A MENDING OF ONE’S MESSES. NO YEAR SHOULD EVER FACE ITS LAST DAYS UNTIL YIELDEDNESS TO GOD’S WAYS HAVE FOUND F ULL FRUITION IN A TRUE DISCILE OF CHRIST!

MARK TWAIN PUT IT LIKE THIS: “FORGIVENESS IS THE FRAGRANCE THE VIOLET SHEDS ON THE HEEL THAT HAS CRUSHED IT.” I REMEMBER READING OF ONE LITTLE BOY WHO THOUGHT HE WAS REPEATING THE LORD’S PRAYER WHEN HE SAID: “AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO ARE DEAD AGAINST US.” I LOVE WHAT JAMES HILTON WROTE IN HIS “TIME & TIME AGAIN.” IT’S A CLASSIC! “IF YOU FORGIVE PEOPLE ENOUGH YOU BELONG TO THEM, & THEY TO YOU, WHETHER EITHER PERSON LIKES IT OR NOT – SQUATTER’S RIGHTS OF THE HEART.” AND WHEN FORGIVENESS BECOMES THE TESTIMONY OF YOUR WALK, GOD HAS EXERCISED HIS SQUATTER’S RIGHTS RIGHT IN YOUR HEART! BUT TO BE UNFORGIVING, & TRY TO PRAY, IT’S NOT THAT GOD WILL STAMMER – HE’LL BE SILENT!!

FOURTH, IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF THE ‘ROBBING SPIRIT’ OF COVETOUSNESS OR GREED!! IN MALACHI 3:6-12 WE READ, “FOR I AM THE LORD, I CHANGE NOT; THEREFORE YOU SONS OF JACOB ARE NOT CONSUMED. EVEN FROM THE DAYS OF YOUR FATHERS YOU ARE GONE AWAY FROM MY ORDINANCES, & HAVE NOT KEPT THEM. RETURN UNTO ME, & I WILL RETURN TO YOU, SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS. BUT YOU SAID, WHEREIN SHALL WE RETURN?

WILL A MAN ROB GOD? YET YOU HAVE ROBBED ME. BUT YOU SAY, WHEREIN HAVE WE ROBBED YOU? IN TITHES & OFFERINGS! YOU ARE CURSED WITH A CURSE: FOR YOU HAVE ROBBED ME, EVEN THIS WHOLE NATION. BRING YOU ALL THE TITHES INTO THE STOREHOUSE, THAT THERE MAY BE MEAT IN MY HOUSE, & PROVE ME NOW HEREWITH, SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS, IF I WILL NOT OPEN THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN, & POUR YOU OUT A BLESSING THAT THERE SHALL NOT BE ROOM ENOUGH TO RECEIVE IT.

AND I WILL REBUKE THE DEVOURER FOR YOUR SAKES, & HE SHALL NOT DESTROY THE FRUITS OF YOUR GROUND; NEITHER SHALL YOUR VINE CAST HER FRUIT BEFORE THE TIME IN THE FIELD, SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS. AND ALL NATIONS SHALL CALL YOU BLESSED; FOR YOU SHALL BE A DELIGHTSOME LAND, SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS.”

BUT, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT CLOSING OUR HEARTS TO THE SPIRIT OF GIVING “TO GOD” CLOSES GOD’S HEART TO THE BLESSINGS HE WANTS TO BESTOW UPON THE CHEERFUL GIVER? AREN’T YOU AWARE THAT A COVETOUS MAN NEVER ‘HAS’ MONEY – IT HAS HIM! IN FACT COLOSSIANS 3:5 SPEAKS OF “GREED…WHICH IS IDOLATRY”!! IN YOUR LIFETIME HAVEN’T YOU WITNESSED THE BLESSED DISCIPLE FINANCIALLY WHO HAS TURNED INWARD ON HIMSELF & WHAT HE HAS BECOMES A CURSE RATHER THAN A BLESSING?

ROBERT SOUTH WROTE THAT “COVETOUSNESS IS BOTH THE BEGINNING & THE END OF THE DEVIL’S ALPHABET – THE FIRST VICE IN CORRUPT NATURE THAT MOVES, & THE LAST WHICH DIES.” IN LUKE 12:15 JESUS SAID, “TAKE HEED, BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS; FOR A MAN’S LIFE DOES NOT CONSIST IN THE ABUNDANCE OF THE THINGS WHICH HE POSSESSES.” HOW COULD WE EVER FORGET ACHAN? A LONG TIME AGO I DID A MESSAGE ENTITLED “THE CONSEQUENCES OF BURIED SIN”. IT RELATED TO HOW ONE MAN’S SIN OF GREED & COVETOUSNESS WITHHELD THE BLESSING OF GOD UPON ALL HIS PEOPLE!

RECEIVE JOSHUA 7:21! “WHEN I SAW AMONG THE SPOILS A BEAUTIFUL BABYLONIAN GARMENT, I COVETED THEM & TOOK THEM. AND THERE THEY ARE, HIDDEN IN THE EARTH IN THE MIDST OF MY TENT WITH THE SILVER UNDER IT.” POSSESSING OR BEING POSSESSED BY ALL THE WEALTH OF THE WORLD IS NOT WORTH HAVING TO EXPERIENCE THE SILENCE & SEPARATION FROM GOD IF “SILVER OR GOLD” HAS THE MIND & HEART BUT NOT TOTALLY YIELDED TO GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY & SAVING GRACE THROUGH CHRIST ALONE!

IT’S AN AMAZING STATEMENT THAT THERE ARE MEN WHO HAVE NO GUILT AT ALL IN ACTUALLY “ROBBING GOD”. OH, YOU MAY FEEL SECURE IN YOUR SELFISHNESS WITHHOLDING FROM GOD, BUT THAT SENSE OF SECURITY IS G OING TO F ADE AWA Y IN A FLASH WHEN GOD ARISES BEFORE YOU TO SAY TO YOU, “I AM THE SAME – I DO NOT CHANGE!”

LISTEN TO THIS NOW DEPARTED SAINT: “…THOSE WHO SING, “OH, HOW I LOVE JESUS”, BUT DO NOT LOVE HIM A DIME’S WORTH OUT OF A DOLLAR WILL NOT GET FAR IN THEIR PRAYING. IF YOU CANNOT TRUST GOD TO SUPPLY YOUR NEED & TO REPAY YOU FOR ALL THE TITHES & OFFERINGS YOU BRING IN FOR HIM, YOU HAVE NOT MUCH FAITH.”

FIFTH, EXAMINE THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF THE DESTRUCTIVE TRACK ONE WALKS ON IN DISOBEDIENCE, ROTTENING REBELLION, & A STRONG SELF-WILL RATHER THAN DAILY YIELDEDNESS TO THE KING OF KINGS!! IN 1 SAMUEL 15:22-23 WE READ, “HAS THE LORD AS GREAT DELIGHT IN BURNT OFFERINGS & SACRIFICES, AS IN OBEYING THE VOICE OF THE LORD? BEHOLD, TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, & TO HEED THAN THE FAT OF RAMS…FOR REBELLION IS AS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT, & STUBBORNNESS IS AS INIQUITY & IDOLATRY. BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED THE WORD OF THE LORD, HE ALSO HAS REJECTED YOU FROM BEING KING.”

I REMEMBERED, AS I WAS WRITING THIS MESSAGE, A COMMENT I HAD MADE ON PRAYER, THAT THE ONLY PRAYER GOD HEARS FROM A SIN-DARKENED HEART IS THE CRY OF REPENTANCE.THAT HASN’T CHANGED. I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT SAUL WANTED TO PRAY TO GOD, EVEN WITH SAMUEL, BUT SAMUEL KNEW SAUL’S ONLY INTEREST WAS PERSONAL HONOR BEFORE HIS PEOPLE, NOT THE HONOR OF GOD ALONE! IN FACT, VERSE 30 SAYS, “I HAVE SINNED; YET HONOR ME NOW, PLEASE, BEFORE THE ELDERS OF MY PEOPLE & BEFORE ISRAEL…”. THAT’S WHAT ‘REBELLION’ IS ALL ABOUT: SELF-INTEREST, SELF-CONCERN, SELF-CONSIDERATION, SELF-DOMINATION, SELF-THOUGHTS, SELF-WILL, SELF-DESIRES, SELF-SERVING, SELF-SEEKING! CAN YOU HEAR OR SENSE THE SPIRIT OF THAT?

AND IF ONE PRAYS WITH THAT ATTITUDE, WHAT’S THE END RESULT OF IT? SILENCE –TOTAL SILENCE. THE ‘DEAFENED EARS’ OF GOD THAT DO HEAR ARE OVERRIDDEN & CLOSED BY STUBBORN HEARTS & REBELLIOUS WILLS! THOMAS ERSKINE WROTE: “MOST MEN ARE SO POSSESSED BY THEMSELVES THAT THEY HAVE NO VACUUM INTO WHICH GOD’S DEEP WATER MAY RISE.”

WHY DID JESUS DIE? LISTEN TO 2 COR. 5:15! “AND HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THOSE WHO LIVE SHOULD “NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES, BUT FOR HIM WHO DIED & ROSE AGAIN.” WE ARE NOT LIVING FOR THE LORD WHEN WE’RE SO CONSUMED WITH OURSELVES EVEN WHILE WE PRAY!

SIXTH, THERE IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF ADVERSE ACTION OF ALWAYS ASKING AMISS! NEVER FORGET JAMES 4:1-3! “WHERE DO WARS & FIGHTS COME FROM AMONG YOU? DO THEY NOT COME FROM YOUR DESIRES FOR PLEASURE THAT WAR IN YOUR MEMBERS?. YOU LUST & DO NOT HAVE. YOU MURDER & COVET & CANNOT OBTAIN. YOU FIGHT & WAR. YET YOU DO NOT HAVE BECAUSE YOU DO NOT ASK…YOU ASK & DO NOT RECEIVE, BECAUSE YOU ASK AMISS, THAT YOU MAY SPEND IT ON YOUR PLEASURES.”

WHAT DID IT SAY? “YOU ASK, & DO NOT RECEIVE, BECAUSE YOU ASK AMISS…!” “AMISS”? IT COMES FROM A ROOT WORD MEANING, (LISTEN!), DISEASED, EVIL, GRIEVOUSLY, MISERABLY, SICK, & SORE!! IN PSALM 2:8 GOD SAID, “ASK OF ME, & I WILL GIVE YOU THE NATIONS FOR YOUR INHERITANCE, & THE ENDS OF THE EARTH FOR YOUR POSSESSION.”

JUST THINK OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE HEART OF GOD & HIS DESIRE TO BLESS & THE HEART OF A MAN, EVEN IN ASKING GOD, TO HELP HIM BUILD HIS OWN MISERABLE KINGDOM OF ‘FLESH’, PERSONAL PLEASURES, & A SICK ‘SELF-CENTERED EGO’! I THINK I UNDERSTAND WHAT & WHY JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 21:13, “MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER, BUT YOU HAVE MADE IT INTO A DEN OF THIEVES!” FENELON ONCE WROTE: “TO PRAY…IS TO DESIRE, BUT IT IS TO DESIRE WHAT GOD WOULD HAVE US DESIRE. HE WHO DESIRES NOT FROM THE BOTTOM OF HIS HEART , OFFERS A DECEITFUL PRAYER.” (AND I WOULD ONLY ADD: “WHO DESIRES, NOT FROM THE BOTTOM & TOP OF GOD’S HEART, BUT ASSUREDLY OFFERS A DECEITFUL PRAYER FROM SELF-INTEREST ALONE, NOT GOD’S GLORY!).

SEVENTH, THERE IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF THE DEADENING DOUBT OF A DIVIDED HEART! JAMES 1:6-8 SAYS, “BUT LET HIM ASK IN FAITH, WITH NO DOUBTING, FOR HE WHO DOUBTS IS LIKE A WAVE OF THE SEA DRIVEN & TOSSED BY THE WIND…LET NOT THAT MAN SUPPOSE THAT HE WILL RECEIVE ANYTHING FROM THE LORD; HE IS A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN, UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS.”

LET ME GIVE YOU TWO STATEMENTS FROM ANONYMOUS WRITERS: 1) “DOUBT DIGS THE GRAVE OF FAITH.” THAT’S WHY JESUSAID TO PETER IN MATTHEW 14:31, “O YOU OF LITTLE FAITH, WHY DID YOU DOUBT?” JESUS WASAYING, ‘WHY DOUBT? EVEN WHILE YOU’RE SINKING – I’M HERE!” 2) “DOUBTERS INVERT THE METAPHOR & INSIST THAT THEY NEED FAITH AS BIG AS A MOUNTAIN IN ORDER TO MOVE A MUSTARD SEED.” ISN’T THAT SO OFTEN TRUE?

DO “YOU” REALLY BELIEVE NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD? DO WE REALLY BELIEVE & TRUST THAT HE “IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL WE ASK OR THINK”? SPURGEON PREACHED: “IT IS NEVER WORTH WHILE TO MAKE RENTS IN A GARMENT FOR THE SAKE OF MENDING THEM, NOR TO CREATE DOUBTS IN ORDER TO SHOW HOW CLEVERLY WE CAN QUIET THEM.”

DOUBT IN A DIVIDED HEART IS TYRANNY AGAINST GOD! DOUBT IN A DIVIDED HEART IS A CRUEL TASK MASTER! DOUBT IN A DIVIDED H EART IS ANOTHER EXPRESSION OF COWARDICE – FEARFUL TO STAND FOR THE TRUTH! DOUBT IN A DIVIDED HEART IS SELF-BURIAL IN A ROTTING GRAVE! DOUBT IN A DIVIDED HEART IS THE PRESENT ‘HELL’ OF A HUMAN SOUL! SOREN KIERKEGAARED PUT IT LIKE THIS: “THE METHOD WHICH BEGINS BY DOUBTING IN ORDER TO PHILOSOPHIZE IS JUST AS SUITED TO ITS PURPOSE AS MAKING A SOLDIER LIE DOWN IN A HEAP IN ORDER TO TEACH HIM TO STAND UP STRAIGHT!”

I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN DOUBT – I WANT TO LIVE IN FAITH! I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN FEAR – I WANT TO LIVE IN TRUSTING GOD! I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN UNBELIEF – I WANT TO LIVE IN CONFI DENCE & ASSURTANCE THAT I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED, & THAT I’M PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE – WHATEVER – HE IS ABLE!

EIGHTH,THERE IS THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF DEAFENED EARS THAT CAN SO EASILY & CONVENIENTLY NEGLECT GOD’S MERCY & GRACE! IN PROVERBS 21:13 WE READ, “WHOEVER SHUTS HIS EARS TO THE CRY OF THE POOR WILL ALSO CRY HIMSELF & NOT BE HEARD.” IS THAT PLAIN? IS THAT CLEAR TO YOU? IS THAT UNDERSTANDABLE TO YOU? IN ZECHARIA 7 THE LORD HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT SHOWING MERCY & COMPASSION, NOT OPPRESSING THE WIDOW OR THE FATHERLESS OR THE ALIEN OR THE POOR OR YOUR OWN BROTHER. BUT HIS PEOPLE “REFUSED TO HEED; SHRUGGED THEIR SHOULDERS, & STOPPED THEIR EARS SO THAT THEY COULD NOT HEAR.” VERSE 13 THEN SAYS: “THEREFORE IT HAPPENED, THAT JUST AS GOD PROCLAIMED & THEY WOULD NOT HEAR (THE CRIES OF THE NEEDY), “SO THEY CALLED OUT & I WOULD NOT LISTEN, SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS.”

WHAT DID JESUS SAY IN MATTHEW 25:41-46? THEN SHALL HE SAY UNTO THEM (GOATS?) ON THE LEFT HAND, DEPART FROM ME YOU CURSED, INTO EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL & HIS ANGELS. FOR I WAS HUNGERED & YOU GAVE ME NO MEAT: I WAS THIRSTY, & YOU GAVE ME NO DRINK.I WAS A STRANGER, & YOU TOOK ME NOT IN; NAKED, & YOU CLOTHED ME NOT; SICK, & IN PRISON, & YOU VISITED ME NOT.

THEN SHALL THEY ALSO ANSWER HIM, SAYING, LORD, WHEN SAW WE YOU AS HUNGRY, OR THIRSTY, OR A STRANGER, OR NAKED,OR SICK,OR IN PRISON, & DID NOT MINISTER UNTO YOU? THEN SHALL JESUS ANSWER THEM SAYING, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, INASMUH AS YOU DID IT NOT TO ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE , YOU DID IT NOT TO ME. AND THESE SHALL GO AWAY INTO EVER;LASTING PUNISHMENT: BUT THE RIGHTEOUS INTO LIFE ETERNAL.” WOW! WHAT WORDS OF CONVICTION & INSPIRATION!!

NINTH, OH, PLEASE NOTICE: THE MAJOR HINDRANCE OF DEAFENED EAR S TO THE WORD OF GOD!! PROVERBS 28:9 SAYS, “ONE WHO TURNS AWAY HISEAR FROM HEARING (GOD’S WORD!) THE LAW, EVEN HIS PRAYER SHALL BE AN ABOMINATION.” BUT!! WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THAT? PSALM 1:1-3 SAYS, “BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT WALKS NOT IN THE COUNSEL OF THE UNGODLY, NOR STANDS IN THE WAY OF SINNERS, NOR SITS IN THE SEAT OF THE SCORNFUL. BUT HIS DELIGHT IS IN THE LAW OF THE LORD; & IN HIS LAW DOES HE MEDITATE DAY & NIGHT. AND HE SHALL BE LIKE A TREE PLANTED BY THE RIVERS OF WATER, THAT BRINGS FORTH HIS FRUIT IN HIS EASON; HIS LEAF ALSO SHALL NOT WITHER; & WHATEVER HE DOES SHALL PROSPER.” WHAT A HOLY INSPIRING WORD OF GOD!

IN JOHN 15:7 JESUS CHALLENGED US: “IF YOU ABIDE IN ME, & MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, YOU SHALL ASK WHAT YOU WILL, & IT SHALL BE DONE UNTO YOU.” HOW ARE “YOU” EVER GOING TO PLEASE GOD IF YOU HAVE NO PLEASURE IN THE POWER OF HIS HOLY WORD? WHAT DID JEREMIAH SAY? “YOUR WORDS WERE FOUND & THEY BECAME THE JOY & THE REJOICING OF MY HEART”, BUT FOR A MAN WHO SHUNS GOD’S WORD? – SILENCE FROM THE THRONE!!

TENTH, THERE IS THE ETERNAL HINDRANCE OF UNCONFESSED SIN THAT CLOSES HEAVEN’S GATES!! YOU KNOW WHAT IT SAYS, PSALM 66:18, “IF I REGARD INIQUITY IN MY HEART, “THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR.” DR. RICE ALSO STATED (P.305), “…IT IS NOT PRIMARILY THE FACT OF SIN, BUT IT IS A LOVE FOR SIN, A WILLINGNESS TO SIN, AN EXCUSING OF SIN THAT MAKES IT SO GOD CANNOT ANSWER OUR PRSAYERS.” AND DR. RICE IS CORRECT!! GOD SAYS: 2 CHRONICLES 7:14, “IF MY PEOPLE, WHICH ARE C ALLED BY MY NAME, SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES, & PRAY, & SEEK MY FACE, & TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS: THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN, & WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN, & HEAL THEIR LAND.” 1 JOHN 1:9 DECLARES, “IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS F AITHFUL & JUST TO FORGIVES US OUR SINS, & TO CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.”

IN THE OLD “AMERICAN HYMNAL”, PUBLISHED IN 1933 BY THE BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN., IS THE HYMN ENTITLED “AT THE CROSS”, (P.41), BY ISAAC WATTS & R.E,HUDSON. IT SAYS: “ALAS, & DID MY SAVIOR BLEED? & DID MY SOVEREIGN DIE? WOULD HE DEVOTE THAT SACRED HEAD FOR SUCH A WORM AS I?

WAS IT FOR CRIMES THAT I HAVE DONE, HE GROANED UPON THE TREE? AMAZING PITY! GRACE UNKNOWN! & LOVE BEYOND DEGREE!

WELL MIGHT THE SUN IN DARKNESS HIDE, & SHUT HIS GLORIES IN, WHEN CHRIST, THE MIGHTY MAKER, DIED FOR MAN, THE CREATURE’S SIN.

BUT DROPS OF GRIEF CAN NE’ER REPAY THE DEBT OF LOVE I OWE: HERE, LORD, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, IT’S ALL THAT I CAN DO!

AT THE CROSS, AT THE CROSS WHERE I FIRST SAW HE LIGHT, & THE BURDEN OF MY HEART ROLLED AWAY THERE BY FAITH I RECEIVED MY SIGHT, & NOW I AM HAPPY ALL THE DAY! AMEN?

By Farrell Fisher

Copyright 2013

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Farrell Fisher

Chapter One: Visions ……………………………………………7Chapter Two: Expecting God’s Presence ………………………18Chapter Three: Entering In ……………………………………25Chapter Four: The Sounds of Heaven ………………………33Chapter Five: Living In the High Places ………………..40Chapter Six: As He Is…So Am I! …………………………..47Chapter Seven: The Great Looking …………………………56Chapter Eight: All Glory To God Alone …………………..62Chapter Nine: The Self-Styled Humanist vs. Sovereign God ….70Chapter Ten: On What Do You Major In Your Pilgrimage? …75Chapter Eleven: No Longer! …………………………………82Chapter Twelve: Claiming Your Mountain ………………..92CHAPTER- THIRTEEN:EXPANDING VISIONS AND HORIZONS 98

CHAPTER – FOURTEEN: A SENSE OF URGENCY 107

Foreword

Since 1982, when God birthed the “vision” of Macedonian Ministries in my heart, He has been so faithful to birth within me a heart-cry for renewal and revival, not only among pastors, but also for all disciples. Over twenty-five years, our Lord has graciously allowed me to speak into the lives of over 100,000 Indian pastors and hundreds of thousands of disciples.

It is not only in the midst of a lost and dying world but even in a languishing and depressed church where people are struggling for identity and purpose. All of us truly need to “Capture the Vision.”

I pray that you will read each chapter in a studious, disciplined, dependent, determined fashion. I’m convinced that God has an encouraging word for you in these fourteen chapters.

In our ministry brochure, I quoted an Indian pastor who wrote several years ago to say, “Pastor Fisher, your seminars in India for pastors have been such a blessing. Multitudinous men were on the threshold of walking away from their ministries until the seminar touched their lives with new hope, new visions, and new purposes. Their ministries are not lost but lifted. Their ministries are not abandoned but ascending in the fullness of our Lord.” My prayer is that your walk is rising, ascending, accelerating in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Be blessed.

I want to dedicate this new book to my wife, who has stood with me faithfully these past 57 years, and I pray for another 57. She’s not only beautiful on the outside but also beautiful on the inside. She’s also very brave to have lived with me for 57 years. It’s been good and I just want to honor her for her faith and her love.

Farrell Fisher

CHAPTER ONE

VISIONS

Carl Henry wrote a book entitled “Twilight of a Great Civilization.” This theologian knew who the real heroes of a given age are – those who know divine visitation and have been captured by heavenly vision! Examine what he wrote: “The real heroes of our time are those who in a faithless age hold, live, and share their faith in God. Genuine revolutionary courage belongs to those who remain true even if atheistic rulers force them underground or punish citizens simply for being Christians…The true immortals will be those who seek to apply the principles of the Bible concretely to the complicated realities of modern life, who preserve a devout and virtuous family life, who are faithful to the abiding values of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

Modern life, both politically, socially, and spiritually is being pounded by waves of indifference, shoals of apathy spiritually, rocks of opposition to God and His Truth, even endless tidal waves of the visionless and a lack of virtuous, victorious living. We are a people being programmed for failure, governed for godlessness, educated for imbecility, and silenced to hear and trust God alone for ourselves.

Oswald Chambers, in his book “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.46), wrote: “It is easier to serve God without a vision, easier to work for God without a call, because then you are not bothered by what God requires; common sense is your guide, veneered over with Christian sentiment. You will be more prosperous and successful, more leisure-hearted, if you never realize the call of God. But if once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always come like a goad; you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense basis.”

No…it’s not a common-sense basis but the uncommon Spirit of visions and dreams. It’s not human compassion but divine appointment. It’s not fleshly reasoning but Faithful Revelation. Paul said in Galatians 1:15-16, “BUT WHEN IT PLEASED GOD…TO REVEAL HIS SON IN ME…” Dynamic, dynamite, distinctive service unto God is that which is unveiled by God! George McDonald wrote, “The one principle of hell is, ‘I am my own.’” Cal Thomas put it in a little different way when he commented in his book, “The Things That Matter Most” (Harper-Collins Publishers, 1994, New York, NY, p.145): “The fact is, burden-less lives create superficial people whose only interest is themselves.” And visionless lives also create sham people and preachers whose only concern is themselves, and they never listen to the God who gives visions and dreams!

The poet said it well when he wrote: “There is a secret in his breast that will never let him rest.” What I want to say is: There is a “Vision” in the true disciple’s heart that will never let him rest!

Jeremiah 29:11-14 is such a powerful, personal, and practical Word. Three truths are amplified there: 1) God’s thoughts and purposes toward us are good. 2) God has a living hope and an abiding future for us. 3) God hears our cries and is ever-present to lead us and enable us to His highest calling for our lives.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I think it is very important for you to consider what your vision is, what God has revealed to you about yourself and your future, about your family, about your nation and about your church. WE NEED VISION FROM GOD!!

In Acts 26:16-19, Paul is relating his testimony of his encounter with the Lord on the Damascus Road. Look at what the Lord said to him: “But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision…”

So, this encounter with the Lord, Paul calls it a “heavenly vision.” He met the Lord on the road to Damascus, God revealed to him that he was to be a minister and a witness to the things he’d already seen, and to the things in which the Lord would appear to him and reveal to him. And Paul states, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…”

Look at Revelation 1:1-2: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.” Now, look at verses 9-11: “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. “I WAS IN THE SPIRIT” on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches…” John was IN THE SPIRIT on the Lord’s day. I am firmly convinced that our yieldedness to the Holy Spirit is vitally imperative if we’re going to receive this vision from the Lord. I am fully convinced Saul of Tarsus was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or he would not have said, “Lord, what would You have me to do?” I think he came to the realization that His encounter with the Lord was through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. WE NEED TO BE YIELDED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I don’t believe there is any man or church that advances without a sense of need, awareness, conviction or direction; aware that God has something to say to each one of us; that He has a purpose and a plan for every one of our lives. The greatest need of our day is God’s vision!

George Moore is an English novelist. In one of his novels was an illustration of Irish peasants during a period of great depression. The government put them to work building roads. At first the peasants were joyous. They worked appreciatively; they were glad to have a job. Over a period of time, however, they learned the truth – they were building roads to nowhere! They were roads that went out to the wilderness area and just stopped there. As they became aware that they worked for no purpose, only to provide them employment and as an excuse to feed them, the laborers grew listless, stopped singing, and the work building roads came to a halt. Here is George Moore’s comment in this novel: “The roads to nowhere are difficult to make. For a man to work well and sing, there must be an end in view.” I’m convinced the “end in view” is VISION FROM GOD! “WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH!”

Beth Moore, from her book, “Things Pondered,” has written these words entitled “The Mountain”:

“I hear You call ‘Come meet with Me, See that which eyes are veiled to see And ears in vain will please to hear Except your heart should draw you here!…Abandon deeds down at My feet, No crowns as yet, no Judgment Seat, Surrender here all noble plans, Just lift to Me your empty hands…I’ll fill them with the richest fare And circumcise your heart to dare To reach beyond all earthliness For on this mount you’re Mine to bless…With gentle hands ‘til heart is stretched I’ll have MY Word upon it etched ‘Til only knees can catch the fall Of one who cries ‘You are my all!’”

What is this vision? We can say that it’s something seen, something that has been heard, something that has been revealed, maybe in a dream; it may be at the height of spiritual ecstasy under the anointing of the Spirit of God or it may be a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation, a will, a purpose, a plan to your life; but God comes and speaks to the hearts of men.

Rudyard Kipling has a poem called “The Explorer.” He wrote: “There’s no sense of going further, it’s the edge of cultivation, so they said and I believed it, broke my land, sowed my crop, built my barn, strung my fences in the little border station, tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop, ‘til a voice as bad as conscience rang interminable changes on one everlasting whisper day and night repeated, ‘Something hidden; go and find it; go and look beyond the ranges. Something lost behind the ranges, lost and waiting for you, go.”

There is the vision beyond the ranges of the common place to man. There is a vision behind the hills that are hidden away for the life of a man who will listen, for the life of a man who will look, for the life of a man who will stop and hesitate and wait upon God because God is no respecter of persons. What are visions and dreams all about?

FIRST, LET’S EXAMINE THE BLESSER OF VISIONS:

The Blesser of Visions is God Himself! Look again at Revelation 1:1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ WHICH GOD GAVE HIM TO SHOW TO HIS BOND-SERVANTS.” So God Himself gives to you His vision! Joel 2:26 says, “And you shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you…”God is the giver of a vision. God authors spiritual dreams. And we need to recognize that since God is no respecter of persons, God wants to give YOU a vision for your life.

This needs to be a matter of prayer, of laying hold of the horns of His altar and hold on!! “God, do You have something for me individually? God, are You speaking to my family, my church, our nation?” Unless we have that attitude prevailing in our hearts, we’re going to miss what God has to say to our lives. We ALL need to bow before the Blesser of Visions and say, “God, since You are no respecter of persons, what is Your vision for me, for my family, for my church, for my nation?” I believe the Word of God reveals our need of bowing before the Blesser of Visions and saying, “Lord, here we are; what do You want to say to us today?”

SECOND, LET’S EXAMINE THE BIRTH OF VISIONS!

• Here is an Abraham, who is given a vision that he is going to be the father of a great nation. So he leaves Ur of the Chaldeas, not knowing where he was going, but only that God had sent him and said to him, “You’re going to be a blessing to all the nations of the world.” [Didn’t Jesus say that Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus’ Day, and he was glad?]
• Here is a young Joseph. He is given a vision. Just a young farm boy, yet God says in Joseph’s childhood, “You’re going to be a great leader, and there are going to be many in the world who are going to bow down to you; they will acknowledge the leadership that is in your life.”
• Here’s a Moses, given a vision of the God of fire who cannot be consumed. This vision is of God taking Moses’ life and making him a leader of his people out of bondage.
• Here’s a Nehemiah, given a vision of a restored city. He’s given a vision of a mighty work of God, which compels him and thrusts him out on the edge of a new adventure for his life. He goes into the city of Jerusalem. He cannot come down off of the wall because of the significance of the work. He cannot compromise with the Arabs (that’s very, very interesting) because of the vision God has given him.
• Here’s a Joel, given a vision of a land that is prosperous, of people that are filled with plenty, of a band of followers of a Holy God; people who’ll find satisfaction in their lives and will not be disappointed regardless of what comes against them. They’re going to be a people blessed of Almighty God.
• Here’s a band of disciples who are so very few, about 12 in number, given a vision of ushering in and establishing the kingdom of God on earth. What a vision! Twelve men – ushering in the kingdom of God!
• Here’s that grain of wheat, given a vision of dying to itself, of reproducing many more grains of wheat and being fruitful in its life.
• Here’s a Paul, given a vision of touching his world with the gospel of which he was not ashamed!
• Here’s a John, whose friends are dying for the faith, given a vision of hope and victory, a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, and of celebration in the wedding of the Lord Jesus Christ with all His followers. With that vision in his heart not even death could discourage John or the Body of Christ, and they walked on victoriously because of the vision that God had given to them!

My co-laborer in India for ten years was Dwayne Weehunt, now founder and director of “Sower of the Seeds International,” who commented in one of his meetings: “When the church has vision, it changes society around it. But when there is no vision, society changes the church!”

Then you come and you think about where Satan’s seat is (I’m not sure that there is any church on the face of the earth today that’s not where Satan’s seat is – Bedford, Texas, Dallas, Texas, Nigeria, India or some place in Europe, Satan’s seat is prominent in the land). But “Here Is A Church That’s Given a Vision!” It’s going to be a faithful, caring, giving, telling, and healing community with a vision of hope, health, helpfulness, growth and prosperity, and spiritual plenty. It has a vision of joy and blessedness abounding, true salvation, the healing of the hurting and the broken-hearted, marriages restored, deliverance of captives, godly families putting their hands to the plow and not looking back, people who hunger and thirst after righteousness, a loving and caring family, a cooperative body of a rejoicing people that praise God for their present and for their future, a praying people that loose and bind, that release and restrain, that uplift and cast out.

There’s an old hymn that says:

“Once to every man and nation [or church?] Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, Offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, ‘Twixt that darkness and that light.”

The birth of a vision! All these men of God had a vision, and it was birthed within their hearts. And if there is the birth of a vision , what’s yours? What is it that God has revealed to you that He wants to accomplish in and through your life? We need to see and hear that vision. We need to know that God has spoken to our hearts. We need to be thankful that God is the God of visions and dreams, and that He is no respecter of persons. He has a vision for each one of our lives!

W. Graham Scroggie has written: “If one would be Christ-minded he must be missionary-minded, and one who is not this has no justification for calling himself a disciple of Christ. Are you missionary-minded?” Have YOU seen this vision?

Henry T. Blackaby, in “The Power of the Call” (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, TN. P.35) wrote: “God Himself chose us, called us in His time, and separated us out for Himself. As clearly as God separated from all other days and sanctified the seventh day (set it apart for Himself, Gen. 3:3) and commanded it to be ‘the Sabbath of the Lord your God’ (Exodus 20:10), so God set you apart from all others – for Himself!” And I would add – for His purposes, His visions, and His dreams!

THIRD, LET’S EXAMINE THE BATTLE OF THE VISIONS!

You need to be aware that whenever a vision is given and birthed within a person’s life, there is always going to be a battle about that vision. God ALWAYS gives a vision that places men at the point of their extremity where God begins to have an opportunity in their lives. GOD ALWAYS GIVES YOU A VISION THAT IS BEYOND YOURSELF! God gives a vision that puts people on the edge of impossibility where God becomes known as the God with whom all things are possible. That’s what our lives are all about: the God with whom all things are possible! So…He gives you a vision. I don’t know what that vision is going to be for you, but I’ll tell you this, it’s going to place you at the point where God has the opportunity to bring the impossible into reality as a demonstration of the greatness of our God. In fact, the vision God gives always brings His people to the point of “death” where they discover God as the power and authority and the Author of Life over death! Let me explain:

Let’s think about Abraham: “Abraham, you’re going to be the father of a great nation. Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” (By the way, how old was Abraham at this particular time when he gets this vision? I believe he’s about 100 years old and that the Bible says Sarah was past the age of childbearing.) So God gives them a vision, and says, “You’re going to have a son.” What did Sarah do? She began to laugh – but God had brought them to a place of impossibility in the natural, so that through the supernatural work of Almighty God, the vision He gave them can be fulfilled by Him!!

Think about Joseph. He’s the farm-boy, the little child to whom God had given a vision that this little shepherd boy would shepherd nations! God saw him as a world-leader. So what happened to Joseph? He was sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned; yet God raised him up as a world leader.

Consider Moses. “Moses, you’re going to lead My people out of bondage!” You cannot read the life of Moses, even before the burning bush experience, and not know that it was already in the heart of Moses that God had told him he was going to be the deliverer. So he goes out, acts impulsively, kills the Egyptian, and then out of fear of Pharoah runs for his life and spends 40 years on the backside of a desert with his rod as a shepherd. But even in spite of that, God raised Moses up!

And here are the disciples. They’re going to usher in and establish the kingdom of God on earth! Then their King is killed. They in their despair said, “We may as well go back to the old way of life; let’s just go back and be fishermen again,” yet the Resurrected Christ re-appointed them!

Here’s John – a new heaven, a new earth; you’re going to have life and victory – yet, the world around him was crumbling, his friends were dying about him every day. BUT GOD SAYS, “There’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth.”

What about “the wheat”? The one grain of wheat was going to be fruitful and bring forth a great harvest. Yet, it was placed into the ground, it rotted, it died. Then here came the mighty harvest!

What about the church? Victorious, mighty army, strong, dynamic force penetrating society, changing society, for the glory of God! When you read the Book of Acts, all of a sudden they were scattered abroad, everywhere, alone, weak, feeble, struggling. Yet the Bible says they turned their world upside down!

The battle of the vision! I don’t know what all that means. I have heard many people say to me, “God gave me a vision of what He was going to accomplish in my life. It was totally beyond the realm of human possibility, but God honored Himself and brought the fulfillment of that vision and dream into my heart.” Whatever He shows you is going to bring you to the edge of your own impossibility, where whatever He shows you will be possible for your life because “HE IS ABLE…!!”

God may say to you, “You’re going to be a doctor someday.” You reply, “A doctor? How could I be a doctor? I don’t even enjoy Biology or Chemistry!” God will bring it to pass. Whatever He says to you, He’s able to do! He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think!

FOURTH, EXAMINE THE BLESSINGS OF A VISION! What are the blessings?

THERE’S THE BLESSING OF DIRECTION. Just because we haven’t arrived as yet to the fulfillment of the vision that God may give to us does not make the vision unreal. So many times God gives a vision, it is ‘out there’ to be fulfilled, totally beyond us, it seems. Just because we haven’t stepped the soles of our feet on every inch of ground in that land of promises doesn’t mean the vision and the promises and the purpose of God has been defeated for us! But the sense of direction that we KNOW we heard from God, we know that He revealed His purpose, we know that He gave us the Divine blueprint, and it gives a sense of direction to us.

Dr. Paul Tillet made this statement: “God is present in the unknown forces that make us restless.” AND IF YOU’RE NOT RESTLESS, YOU’RE NOT LIVING ON THE EDGE OF GROWTH! If you’re not restless, you’re not on the edge of maturity, not on the edge of hunger and thirst for what God wants to do in and through your life. But if you’re there, and God has said, “This is what I’m going to accomplish through your life,” then there is a striving toward that sense of direction. It’s called the “Sabbath Rest”! Our striving is being finished with ourselves and found us in His faithfulness.

Oswald Chambers said in his “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.51) that we don’t “attain to a vision, we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself.” Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

There is nothing more beautiful than to see one who has heard from God and knows what God’s purpose and God’s plan is for that life. They commit themselves to that, they hold on to it, and they see the fulfillment of that vision. It may take years. Think about Caleb. It was forty years before Caleb saw the fulfillment of his vision. God said to Caleb, “I’m going to give you a mountain.” After he came into the land of promise, he went to his mountain, and said, “Give me my mountain.” It was 40 years from the time God gave him that vision of what his inheritance was going to be. He held onto it. It gave a sense of direction to his life, it gave a sense of purpose to his life. He would not be detoured away from what God had revealed to him. It gave him the blessing of direction!

THERE’S THE BLESSING OF DEPENDENCY. What did we say about the birth of a vision? About the battle of a vision? God is always going to bring you, with whatever He asks of you, to the place of impossibility. Why? So that whatever God is revealing, it takes Him to fulfill it. So there is the blessing of dependency. When I know that God has brought me there and given me a vision that is beyond me, then every day of my life I find myself dependent upon God for that fulfillment of the vision – and that’s a good place to be!

The Lord said when you pray, pray like this: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Give us this day our fulfillment of the vision, give us this day whatever is necessary to meet the physical, emotional, mental, material, spiritual needs of our lives – absolutely dependent!

Georgia Harkness is an outstanding Methodist theologian. The author wrote: “Christianity’s major world in the western world is secularism. Secularism defined? “The organization of human life as if God did not exist.” I thought about that as I read that statement. How many people organize their daily life as if God did not exist? And that’s true of some businesses, some families, yes, even some pastors and churches.

Acts 26:16 says: “I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you.” Verse 17 says, “…I am sending you.” Here is one who has a vision. As a result of that vision, he is sent out. Read verse 18. Whatever the vision is, there is purpose behind it: “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they also may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me.” Look at verse 22: “And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets said was going to take place.” Notice the first part of that 22^nd verse: “And so having obtained help from God…” That’s the blessing of dependency. God gives Paul such a vision that he understands that vision cannot be fulfilled in and of Paul himself. Paul understood that, and he obtained help from God! We ALL need that kind of vision – every one of us! We need the kind of vision that will cause us to be shipwrecked on the isle of God’s sovereignty and stranded on the island of His omnipotence, where, if the vision that God gives us is going to be fulfilled, He has to be the provider of everything that is necessary to fulfill that vision.

THERE IS ALSO THE BLESSING OF DELIVERANCE. Joel 2:32 says: “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape…” Deliverance from what?

Deliverance from the bondage of criticism of what we’re about with our lives. There is deliverance for the man who has a vision from God. Here’s the man who has this vision from God: He begins to “live” that vision, he begins to “die” for that vision, he begins to invest everything in himself to that vision…and opposition arises! Here comes a family member; along come close friends; business associates arise and begin to say, “You’re being so foolish; do you know what you’re doing? Do you realize what price you’re paying? How foolish can a man be?” Yet, what happens? Well, here’s a Paul who says, “It’s good to be a fool for Christ’s sake.” He was delivered from criticism of what he was about!

One of the biggest hindrances to the fulfillment of a vision in a person’s life is the opposition that comes from those who have no spiritual understanding of hearing the voice of God, of seeing a vision from God or a dream from God, and then pouring out their lives to see that vision come to be a reality within them. But if there is that vision burned within your heart, it doesn’t matter what family or friends may say. When you know that you’ve heard from God, you’re willing to lose everything, lay down your life and die, so that vision can be fulfilled through you!

There is deliverance from aimlessness. What is life all about with the people you come in contact with every day? Think about it – the people in your neighborhood, the people in your business office, the people where you work at that factory, the people you rub elbows with every day – what is their life all about? Can I tell you? Can I tell you that probably 80-90% of the people you come in contact with, their whole reason of existence is simply survival. They’re just doing the best they know how to survive. They have no purpose to life, no meaning to life, no aim to life, no goal to life except that they’re just trying to get by every day and survive life as it is. What a sad state of life! But when you have met Christ, when you have heard the voice of God, when you know He has spoken to you about your life purpose, you have an aim. You have direction. You have a goal. You have a purpose for living. And your life will never be the same! You are all business for the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

Let’s come back to Joel 2:26. “You shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied [Are you satisfied? REALLY satisfied? Is there contentment to your life?] and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; then My people will never be put to shame.” YOU shall praise the name of the Lord your God! Prayer and praise are how you maintain a vision. God inhabits the praises of His people! Prayer and praise maintain the vision! God inhabits the praises of His people! And when you arise in the morning, in that inner man, there ought to be that thankful spirit. When you walk through the day, there ought to be that thankful spirit that God has a purpose for your life; He’s given you a vision and a dream and you are fulfilling that vision and that dream. Praise the name of the Lord!

Not only is there praise to maintain the vision, but there is participation in the vision. Paul said: (Acts 26:19), “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” That is so practical to our lives. If we’re not participating with God in the fulfillment of what He reveals to us, we’re not maintaining the vision, and the vision will die! Paul was obedient to the vision God gave to him for his life and as a result of that he was maintaining the vision, there was fire in the vision, there was warmth to the vision, and it carried him through even to the point that he died for it because he knew God had spoken to his heart and life.

WHAT ABOUT BOUNDARIES TO THE VISION. Joel 2:28-29, “And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” Boundaries?

GOD HAS A VISION FOR EVERY INDIVIDUAL. (Philippians 1:21), “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” What is your purpose to life? What is your reason for living? What is the purpose in what you do with your daily life? Paul said, “For to me, to live is CHRIST” – to honor the Lord through all he is and all he does.

GOD HAS A VISION FOR YOUR OCCUPATION. (Exodus 31:1-6), “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I HAVE PUT SKILL that they may make all that I have commanded you.” God gives severally as He wills. He gives gifts unto men. That is a vision God will reveal to you, as clear as a ringing bell! It may take a while for that bell to ring clearly in your mind and heart and spirit, but God has a purpose for your life!

GOD HAS A VISION FOR YOUR FAMILY. (Genesis 12:1-3) “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God is no respecter of persons. If God had a vision for Abram and his family, through which all the families of the earth shall be blessed, then God has a vision for your family. Begin to thank Him!

GOD HAS A VISION FOR INDIVIDUAL CHURCHES. Acts 1:7-8, He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs [seasons] which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” God revealed His purpose to individuals, and to the body of believers. He gives a vision, a dream, a direct order, yes, to fellowships.

What did we begin with? “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” What is YOUR vision before God? What has God revealed to you? I believe we ought to pray for that vision or dream. We ought to have a vision for our nation! Whenever we lose sight of the vision of God for a nation, the people perish. Whenever a fellowship loses sight of its vision, the people perish. Even in marriages – when they have no vision of what their purpose is before Holy God in marriage, marriages drop like dying flies! It’s so true, yes, of individuals. That’s why it’s so important to be committed to that one, to the many, whose hearts are going after God. For what fellowship does light have with darkness? There is none. We need a vision!

Barbara Reynolds, a liberal columnist for USA Today, wrote an enlightening column for June 25, 1993. She was addressing the clouds and thunderclaps of lawlessness and lack of social order that hangs over far too many country’s major cities. She wrote: “Those murderous habits aren’t based solely on financial poverty, but on a bankrupt human spirit caused by an absence of the Spirit of God. If it weren’t for the religious faithful [in cities and schools], life would be utterly hopeless.” She was so right! But even more, if we lose the religious faithful who’ve been captured by Vision, Vision from God, all segments of human life will be utterly hopeless! But we are not “hopeless” people; we are hope-filled servants of the Most High God who unveils for us the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God!

Let me close this truth of vision with several tremendous statements penned by Gloria Gaither in “An Old Friend Not Forgotten.” Bill Gaither included this in his “Homecoming Collectors’ Edition (Gaither Music Company, 1993): “The world is oblivious for there are too few visionaries. Too blind to subtleties and too imprisoned by carnivals. Too numb to gentleness and too overwhelmed by power. Too deaf to music and too stimulated by noise. Too dull to recognize the permanent – too focused to the transient. Too tuned out to the prophets, too attuned to the hucksters. The world is oblivious for there are too few visionaries…The world is losing heart for there are too few dreamers. Too much cynicism and not enough faith. Too much hype and not enough hope. Too much savvy and not enough wisdom. Too much money and not enough treasure. Too much form and not enough substance. Too many takers and not enough givers. Too many dissenters and not enough inspirers. The world is losing heart, for there are too few dreamers…Into such a world God sends His poets, prophets, troubadours who see what we have missed, who warn us lest we self-destruct, and who fill the songless night with music. They surround our alienation with love’s embrace; they burn through the fog of our oblivion with the piercing light of truth, and they sing the dream back into our hearts.” AMEN?

CHAPTER TWO

EXPECTING GOD’S PRESENCE

Do you remember the passage from 2 Peter 3 about the mockers and scoffers of God’s Word? They said to Peter in verse 4, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” “Where is He?” Even Job, the most righteous man of the day said: “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat.” (Job 23:3). Elihu, one of Job’s ‘friends’, said, “The Almighty – we cannot find Him.” (Job 37:23).

Even God Himself knows and understands how man finds himself with that question ringing in his ear. In Isaiah 49:21 God speaks: “Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am barren, an exile, and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone…” Have you ever been there where you felt so alone?

In 2 Samuel 21:1 the Word says, “Now there was a famine…and David inquired of the Lord.” In your life, in family relationships, in the economy of pocketbook and soul, in the journey – you may ask, “Where is God?” And like David, you begin to seek the presence of the Lord.

I want you to know that because God loves you so much, He allows you famine to rediscover faith. He allows you economic and soulish bankruptcy to rediscover JEHOVAH-JIREH. He allows you dead-end streets for you to rediscover the only way of salvation’s promises and provisions.

In Genesis 3:9 God called to Adam and said to him, “Adam, where are you?” But I’m sure that in all of our hearts there have been those times we’ve said, “Lord, where are You?” Elisha had just received the mantle of Elijah, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven (2 Kings 2:9-14). Elisha was left alone and stood by the bank of the Jordan River. Do you know his first words? “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”

Psalm 79:1-10 tells us of Israel being invaded and how their blood flowed in the streets of Jerusalem. In verse 10 someone makes a strong statement: “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ It’s not only a nation like Israel that is invaded, but there are times, events, circumstances, happenings, when a life feels that it has been invaded and people ask, “Where is his God?” Sometimes the holy temple of the saved saint has been defiled and people ask, “Where is his God?”

It has even happened that lives, businesses, families, and fellowships have laid in ruins and people ask, “Where is their God?” More than anything else, as you read this book, I want to bring you to a place of “Expecting God’s Presence.”

In Exodus 14:19 the Word says, “And the angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them”! Before us, behind us, around us, above us – and He’s within us who’ve been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!

In Exodus 23:20 God says, “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.” In Exodus 33:14-15 He says, “My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest…” Moses said, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here!”

Exodus 39 tells of the completion of the work of the tent of meeting – the tabernacle. In that tent, in the Holy Place (verse 36), there was “the bread of the Presence”! David’s heart-cry was “Do not cast me away from Your Presence.” (Psalm 51:11)! But Isaiah had to say that Jerusalem had stumbled and Judah had fallen because they “rebelled against His glorious presence” (Isaiah 3:8). He then finalized his holy prophecy with a word of great hope: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).

Do you really know and understand the heart of God? Have you truly grasped His “saving to the uttermost”? Notice:

• EXPECT GOD”S PRESENCE EVEN AT THE PLACE OF BITTERNESS!

In Exodus 15:22-23 Moses had brought God’s people into the Wilderness of Shur. They had traveled 3 days into the wilderness as God had instructed them in order to worship Him, and the Word says they “found no water.” When they came to Marah, “they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.” Let me ask you a question. Do you believe God knew they’d find no water, and that when they would find water, it would be bitter? Then there was a “murmuring”! Sound familiar? What did Moses do? Verse 25 says Moses “cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet!” The end of verse 25 says, “And there He tested them.”

Capture the vision! God never promised that the walk of a disciple is “a bed of roses,” “peaches and cream,” or “ease and comfort”! Before His ascension, Jesus informed us, “In the world you shall have tribulation.” Paul said to Timothy, “All who live godly in this world will suffer…even persecution.” But what God has promised is “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Exodus 1:13-14 speaks of the Egyptians making the children of Israel to serve with rigor, or harshness, and “made their lives BITTER with hard bondage.” If you don’t know as yet, be prepared, the world of fallen men longs to put the “liberated” and “free” under hard bondage. That’s the intent of the powers of darkness – to enslave you in the harshness of bitter bondage. But Jesus says, “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free”, even as you walk through the bitter waters.Job 3:28 speaks of “the bitter of soul…who…even long for death, but there is none,” unless you find a Dr. Kevorkian who does not thrive on easing one’s pain, but finds pleasure in providing death to the bitter of soul, neither knowing, understanding, comprehending, nor sensing that that place of bitterness of soul may be the place to meet the ever-present Lover of their souls rather than an evil angel of death!

Proverbs 5:3 speaks of the “bitterness of adultery.” I have never seen adultery anywhere, anytime, do anything but produce bitterness – in the participants or those who experience the fallout from it. But then there is Hosea! And there is Jesus who meets Mary Magdalene at the point of her bitter life and brings sweetness to her soul!

Jeremiah 4:18 speaks of the “bitterness of evil ways and thoughts.” In the midst of that bitterness, God sends the prophet. In verse 14, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from your wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?” Please, please note: God promises you “the mind of Christ.” By His Word, His power, and His Spirit you can bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus!

2. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE AT THE PLACE OF EARTHLY JUDGMENTS!

Never forget Daniel 3 and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego who fall under the judgment of King Nebuchadnezzar. In verses 23-25 we’re told they fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was astonished because in that blazing inferno of the fiery furnace, he saw not three men but four, and the “form of the fourth is like the Son of God”! Let me tell you if you don’t know – it WAS the Son of God, who has told us “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Notice what Nebuchadnezzar said in verse 28: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, Who sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God.”

Earthly judgments? An innocent man on death row now facing an inevitable execution finds grace and mercy; the Holy Presence of God is not locked out of prison bars. Look up – your redemption is drawing nigh!

A tear-stricken, heart-broken, forsaken wife faces the pain of a compromising, condescending, callous, cruel, and critical husband who heaps strife upon her because he “deserves someone better.” But in her pain she’s visited by “Holy Presence”, by the Heavenly, helpful “Husband” of eternity, God Himself. Look up – your redemption is drawing nigh!

It is a shattered, broken dream, a horrible business failure because of the under-handedness of a dear friend that cost you dearly. But in the midst of that down and out experience – look up! Your redemption is drawing nigh!

Having traveled to the Philippines over the years since 1984, I was keenly interested in Chuck Colson’s account of Benigno Aquino, husband of Cory Aquino, past president of the Philippines. The account is recorded in Colson’s “Kingdoms In Conflict (Harper Paperbacks, 1987, Harper & Row Publishers, New York, pp.483-485):

“A small Filipino man with penetrating brown eyes stared, unbelievingly, at his prison door’s cool, smooth surface. It was 1972. Moments before, the door had crashed shut on him with metallic finality. It felt like a bad dream. Never before had he been in a prison. In fact, until that day he had expected to become the next president of the Philippines.

It seemed impossible – ridiculous, really. Benigno Aquino was the boy wonder of Philippine politics – mayor of a large town at twenty-two, governor of a province at twenty-eight, at thirty-five elected senator, the youngest ever. Now he measured the entire extent of his freedom in two or three paces. He sat on his bunk and thought, and as the day passed into night he continued to sit there. For the first time in his life he had nothing else to do – nothing.

Son of a wealthy family, this charismatic, gregarious politician suddenly found himself stripped of everything that had propped up his ego. All his plans, his friends, his busy schedule, all his carefully cultivated followers were gone, replaced by the sheer loneliness and boredom of the prison cell and the venomous hostility of his guards. He kept waiting for Marcos to send for him, to offer a deal. Surely he could not simply leave him to rot in prison!

Half a year went by before Aquino was even questioned or confronted with any charges. Then a trumped-up murder case was brought, and a rigged military court condemned him to death. This too was a bad dream, for the real reason for his imprisonment was President Ferdinand Marco’s greed for power. With his two-term limit as president due to expire in 1973, Marcos had declared martial law, granting himself unlimited powers. He had thrown Aquino and other political opponents into prison. Marcos intended never to leave office – and so was determined never to let a popular Aquino out to challenge him.

Prison had, for Aquino, the same bewildering effect it has held for many others. He lost all sense of direction and perspective. He became bitter not only at Marcos, but at the world, even at God. He hated everyone and his prison guards goaded him on. They sometimes put his dinner plate on the ground, and let a mongrel dog wolf part of it down; then, kicking the dog aside, they gave what was left to Aquino. He lost 40 pounds. He suffered two heart attacks. When he was not longing for revenge, he wanted to die.

His mother, deeply concerned, sent him a book, the memoirs of another prisoner. It was my story – “Born Again”. At first Aquino looked at it with little appetite. Watergate was poorly understood outside America. Nonetheless, there were similarities in our careers. So Aquino read the book – and it touched him.

He read how I too had lost everything and entered the disorienting, mocking maze of prison. But God had shown me that such losses were not in vain as I found my true life in Christ. Aquino began to search for the meaning I had found. A voracious reader, he poured over the Bible and other Christian books. He found great inspiration in a little classic, “The Imitation Of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis. He was surprised to discover in reading the works of an early Filipino hero, Jose Rizal, that the same book had motivated his life and struggle for his country.

One night Aquino knelt in his jail cell and gave his life to Jesus Christ. Overcome with grief for his anger toward God, he begged forgiveness. His viewpoints, his life, most of all bitterness – all changed. He had a sense that his life had suddenly moved into a different channel with another purpose.”

How familiar are you with David’s account in Psalm 139? Look especially at verses 5-12:

“You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.”

3. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE AT THE PLACE OF FEAR!

In I Kings 19, after such a tremendous victory on Mount Carmel, Elijah was confronted by a messenger from Jezebel: “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as one of them by tomorrow about this time.” Elijah, so captured by fear, arose and ran for his life! He hid in a cave! Notice – in that cave GOD MET HIM! In that cave of fearfulness, “the Lord passed by.”

Life’s circumstances, similar to Elijah’s, are not intended to capture us in a cave of fearfulness but release us to the care of God’s faithfulness. The Lord is still “passing by” where fear rules. Reach out for Him!

Marion Hilliard, quoted in “Digest of World Reading,” Melbourne, Australia, has said, “Since fear is unreasonable, never try to reason with it. So-called positive thinking is no weapon against fear. Only positive faith can rout the black menace of fear and give life a radiance.” Henry Van Dyke once said: “Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.”

Paul encouraged a fearful Timothy when he boldly declared, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). We all face tremendous battles through our pilgrimage, but God Almighty has a Word for us that is so practical, powerful, and personal: “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt IS WITH YOU.”

4. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE AT THE PLACE OF DARKNESS!

I love Exodus 20:21 because it tells us so much about the God we serve. “So the people stood at a distance, but Moses drew near the thick cloud (or darkness) where God was”!

Again, Psalm 139, verses 11-12, says encouragingly, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.”

There are dark days, dark seasons, dark events or circumstances, dark words, or even dark deeds that are against us. Yet, Job was able to say (Job 12:22), “He reveals mysteries from the darkness, and brings deep darkness into light.” In Job 29:3 he said, “…by God’s light I walked through darkness…”

It is so awesome to read Job 23:16-17 because it is so true, and because it produces such a reverential awe of God in our hearts. “For God made my heart weak, and the Almighty terrifies me; because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and He did not hide deep darkness from my face.”

Isaiah illumines God’s purpose of allowing “darkness” in our lives by saying this: (Isaiah 45:3), “And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places, in order that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.” King David said, (Psalm 18:28), “The Lord God illumines my darkness.” Hallelujah! Expect God’s Presence in the dark night of your soul!

5. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE AT THE PLACE OF LONELINESS AND ISOLATION AND SEPARATION FROM THE DIVINE WILL OF GOD FOR OUR LIVES!

It had been 40 years since Moses had decided to leave Pharoah’s household and walk with God’s people. It had been 40 years since Moses had killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. It had been 40 years since Pharoah had heard of the matter and sought to kill Moses, but “Moses fled from the face of Pharoah and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well” (Exodus 2:15). Forty years later! Moses had ended up on the backside of a desert! He had wanted to walk with God. He had wanted to help God’s people find freedom. But for forty years he had lived separated from God’s ultimate intention for his life.

In that lonely place, isolated, so alone, separated from his mission, God came. Look at Exodus 3. Look at that burning bush that God has for your own life and your own experience. God will call to you as He did to Moses because God is no respecter of persons. He longs to liberate you to your ultimate calling and mission in life!

Do you remember Jacob and that lonely, dark night when he met with God? In Genesis 28:15, God spoke: “Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go…” And Jacob responded, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” In verse 17 he continues: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Did you get it? The place of isolation, loneliness, and separation can be for us “the house of God and the gate of heaven!”

6. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE AT THE PLACE OF DISILLUSIONMENT AND DISCOURAGEMENT!

Simon Peter! So intent on defending and standing by Jesus! But he denied Jesus. John 21:3 tells us that Peter had decided to go back to his former life, back to his former occupation, back to his old lifestyle. He was so disillusioned and so discouraged! Have you ever been there? Have you ever found yourself drowning in that sea of desperation because of your personal failures in the things of the Spirit? “I AM GOING FISHING!”

But notice: “After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias…” (John 21:1). Peter’s denial and desertion didn’t shake Jesus; it motivated Him the more to be where Peter and the other disciples had found themselves – wallowing in the sea of self-pity. Look up – your redemption draws nigh!

7. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE AT THE PLACE OF PERFECTING AND PROVING PERSEVERANCE!

It may be time for you to have an in-depth review of the Book of Job! Though Job may have felt so alone at times, I am reminding you that God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” When you come to Job 42:5-6, you see what finally dawned upon Job – God had never left him even though he felt so alone! Look: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” And Job repented because he had not sensed or faithed or trusted God’s abiding Presence in the perfecting processes of his life!

Hebrews 10:35-36 says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”

I would like to have personally known Civilla D. Martin and learn all she had experienced in her walk with the Lord. She wrote the words to the old stand-by hymn, “God Will Take Care Of You”: It says –

“Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;

Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

Through days of toil when heart does fail, God will take care of you;

When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you.

All you may need He will provide, God will take care of you;

Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.

No matter what the test, God will take care of you; Lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you.

God will take care of you, Through every day, o’er all the way;

He will take care of you, God will take care of you.”

8. EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE BECAUSE IT IS A PROVEN PROMISE! God said to Joshua as he prepared to embark upon the ministry of leadership of God’s people, “Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). And remember as Jesus gave us The Great Commission and prepared to ascend into heaven on that great cloud of glory, He added, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” (Matthew 28:20).

Paul was not only “persuaded that He is able”; in Romans 8:38-39 he was “persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Are YOU persuaded?

9.EXPECT GOD’S PRESENCE EVEN IN YOUR DEATH!

Psalm 23 is more than just a child’s favorite Psalm – it is the child of faith’s glowing testimony! In verse 4 the man of faith said: “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

One of my favorite people in all the world is Dr. Gene Galloway, family practitioner in Elizabethtown, Tennessee, now retired. We’ve been dear friends for a long, long time and have had the privilege of visiting with one another occasionally over the years. On one occasion Gene shared with Sue and me one of the most heart-tugging stories I’ve ever heard. In the Elizabethtown hospital there was a little girl about six or seven years of age dying, I believe of leukemia. Her family was a family of faith and had built into that precious little girl an abiding faith. As she came near to the hour of death, in and out of consciousness, all of a sudden she raised up in her bed with a big smile on her face and a gleam in her eye and said, “Oh, Mommy, Mommy, do you hear them? Do you hear the angels singing? It’s so beautiful.” And then she laid down to die. No…! She laid down to rest in the bosom of Jesus forever!

Catch the vision! A living faith transcends all that earth and hell have to throw at us…AND WE WIN!! We are “more than conquerors”!!

CHAPTER THREE

ENTERING IN

I want to ask you a question. Are you entering in where you need to enter and with Whom you need to be with? Psalm 100 is one of the greatest psalms with one of the greatest challenges:

• “Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands,” including wherever you presently rest the soles of your two feet!
• “Serve the Lord with gladness,” not sadness!
• “Come before His presence with singing,” not silence!
• “Know that the Lord, He is God,” the only One, True, Living God – not the multitudinous idols, false gods of our own making or cheap imitations!
• “It is He who has made us and not we ourselves,” telling us we are not accidents or freaks of evolution but the work of Eternal, Holy God!
• “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture…” Why? Because He made us, lost us through the result of sin and Satan, but He bought us with a price, the precious blood of the Lamb of God!
• “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise,” saying it is not our entering ‘hell’s’ gates, but HIS gates!

In Exodus 33:9 the Word says, “And it came to pass, when Moses entered the Tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.” I want to enter the place where the Lord talks with me!

But to Ezekial God gives a warning: “And the Lord said to me, ‘Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.” (Ezekial 44:5). And in Ezekial 43:12 God says the law of God’s temple is holiness, Whose temple we are through Christ! Are you entering or are you out?

Revelation 22:15 says, “Outside are dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” Another awesome word of warning comes from the lips of Jesus when in Luke 11:52 He said, Woe to you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered! I don’t want to be a hindrance to those trying to enter – I want to be a help! I don’t want to be a stumbling block – I want to be a stepping stone! I don’t want to be a thief who has stolen the key of knowledge and hidden it – I want to be a trumpeter and proclaimer of God’s undiluted Word!

In Proverbs 4:14 we read: “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil.” Proverbs 8:16 says, “A fool’s lips enter into contention and his mouth calls for blows.” And in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation…” Several times in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:23 for one) the Word declares that “God brought us out from there that He might bring us in…” Are you in where God wants you to be?

GOD CALLS YOU TO ENTER WHERE HE WANTS YOU TO BE THROUGH THE “STRAIGHT AND NARROW” GATE.

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” I have no desire to follow the “many” who go the way of destruction. I want to follow the “few” who go the way of life!

In Deuteronomy 30:19 God speaks: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live.”

Jesus was traveling through the cities and villages teaching and preaching when someone asked Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” Jesus said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:23-24). The word “strive” is the picture of a contest – a prize fighter with every ounce in him fighting to win. It is the picture of a foot race with the runner stretching out fervently to finish first. The “narrow gate”? Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Then you say, “Pastor Fisher, why do you teach us about the ‘narrow way’? We believe Jesus is that ‘door’ to God.” I do so because across our world there filters in a false teaching that there is more than one way to God; God has many doors, they say, and all lead to the same place!

I tell you a thousand times over, NOT SO!! Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father but through Christ alone! Acts 4:12 says this, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, Immanuel (God in flesh), Promised Messiah, did not come in human form, suffer, bleed, and die in order that Sovereign, Holy God might give multitudinous ways for men to be saved. Jesus only is Lord or not Lord at all!

GOD SAYS THAT ENTERING IN THROUGH THE NARROW GATE IS ALSO ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

In Mark 10:13-15 Jesus said, “Then they brought young children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid; For of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Jesus challenged Nicodemus and all of us when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Jesus amplified that statement by saying, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (verse5).

Oh, and then in Luke 12:32 Jesus said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Because of a repentant heart and faith in Christ’s redeeming work alone, the Word declares that “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”(Colossians 1:13).

Paul was on his missionary journey and so many were turning to Christ. In Acts 14:21-22 it tells us how Paul wanted to strengthen the new disciples. Notice: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’”

Entering in is the surrendering of allegiance to the King of the kingdom! Jesus asks, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Entering in is the submission of acceptance as a way of life of kingdom truth! Isaiah 59:14 speaks of why God set Israel aside as His instrument of being a blessing to all the nations of the world. It says: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Again in Isaiah 26:2 there is an amplification: “Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.”

Paul magnified kingdom truth for Timothy when in I Timothy 3:14-15 he said, “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground [or support] of the truth”!

In Christ’s kingdom, we are “recipients of heavenly truth”; no longer blinded or deceived by Satan and his hellish hordes.

In Christ’s kingdom, we are “celebrators of heavenly truth,” not compromisers.

In Christ’s kingdom, we are “disciples of heavenly truth,” not people who “pretend obedience.”

In Christ’s kingdom, we are “proclaimers of heavenly truth,” our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace!

Entering in is the sensibility of adaptability to kingdom life and authority. The words of I Peter 4:1-2 are powerful and life-changing for a genuine disciple: “Therefore since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

Paul amplified this truth in Ephesians 4:20-24 when he said to us: “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you “put off”, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you “put on” the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Then there is the explosive statement of John in I John 4:17 which says, “Because as Jesus is, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD.”

Do you really know the heart-cry of kingdom living? One of my favorite choruses says it like this: “Jesus, be Jesus in me; No longer me but Thee.

Resurrection power, Fill me this hour; Jesus, be Jesus in me.”

Kingdom living is being the extension of Christ’s life, the very expression of Christ’s love, and the proof of His power and authority!

In 2 Peter 1:3-4 Peter said, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” In verses 5-10 Peter built in foundation stones of a victorious, overcoming life, and then adds in verse 11, “For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

GOD ALSO SAYS THAT ENTERING IN IS ENTERING IN TO THE PLACE OF WORSHIP. In Jeremiah 7:2 the Word of the Lord through the prophet says, “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.”

John 4 tells us that Jesus “needed to go to Samaria.” The necessity was a divine appointment with a needy woman. She came to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in verses 21-24 Jesus said this: “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

To the church at Philippi Paul said, “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Worship is a way of life – not a Sunday morning ritual. Worship is the outflow of an inner oneness with God. Worship is the supernatural exhaling from a supernatural inhaling of all God is. David entered the tabernacle of God and out of the overflow of his heart he cried out: “Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (I Chronicles 16:29). In Psalm 95:6 we read: “Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”

Too many preachers and disciples don’t have time to “bow down” because they are too busy raising themselves up!

GOD’S HEART-CRY IS THAT ENTERING IN IS ENTERING TO THE FULLNESS OF HIS GLORY!

We know what the Bible declares! (Romans 3:23), “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Did you see it? In our sin, we were short of the glory of God. We had missed the mark!

There is an Old Testament picture that lays a foundation for our understanding of all Christ Jesus has done for us. It is found in Exodus 40:34-35: “Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” The Scripture said, “Moses was not able to enter…the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” But come to the New Testament, to the blood covenant, to the activity, the sacrifice, and the victory of Jesus at the cross in our behalf. Notice Matthew 27:50-51: “Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. Then behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”! Hallelujah! Do you know what that means?

I Peter 5:10 says, “But the God of all grace…called us TO His eternal glory by Christ Jesus…”

To those disciples on the Emmaeus Road, Jesus said, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26).

In the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer in John 17:22, Jesus said to the Father, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are One.”

Living in the fullness is living in the glory cloud of His abiding Presence! Living in the fullness is living in the glory of all He is! Living in the fullness is living in the glory of all He desires to be in our behalf!

Psalm 34:5 says, “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”

*Enter into the glory-cloud today because there is “the help of His countenance.” Psalm 42:5 says, “Hope in God for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” In Psalm 44:3 the psalmist said, “The arm of our fathers didn’t save them; but it was Your right hand, Lord, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them.”

*Enter into the glory-cloud today because there is “the help of His counsel.”

In Exodus 33:9-11, “Moses entered the tabernacle, [and] the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshipped, each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend…”

*Enter into the glory-cloud today because there is “the help of His commitment.” Again in Exodus 33:14-15, God speaks with assurance: “And the Lord said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then Moses said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.’”

*Enter into the glory-cloud today because there is “the help of His comfort.” In Psalm 42:5 David cried out, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him.”

To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote: (2 Corinthians 1:3-4), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

GOD SAYS ENTERING IN IS ENTERING IN TO THE “SABBATH REST.”

God gave us a warning through the psalmist when He said: “…Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” (Psalm 95:7-11).

But Joshua and Caleb DID enter, and so can each of us! There is a “Sabbath rest”! In Hebrews 4:1 the writer said, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it,” and then boldly declared in verse 3: “For we who have believed do enter that rest…” Continuing in verses 9-10 he further stated: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” What is that “Sabbath rest”?

• It is the one who has ceased from his own pre-determined ‘works’ and “rested” in God.
• It is the one who knows the reality of the crucified life and lives by the life of “Another”! (Galatians 2:20).
• It is the one who has captured the vision of Ephesians 1:23: “…The fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

GOD SAYS ENTERING IN IS ENTERING IN TO THE WORK. In Numbers 4:1-3, “the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the children of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ house, from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.”

And here is our personal rocket launched off the pad of faith. Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Do you remember Jesus in John 6 instructing His disciples that they not labor for the food which perishes? “Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in [trust, rely upon, adhere to, obey!] Him whom He sent” (verse 28).

• Acts 13:2 speaks of the work of missions to which God has called.
• I Corinthians 16:10 speaks of the work of the Lord that Timothy and Paul do including taking care of the churches of God!
• Philippians 2:12 speaks of the working out of our own salvation in fear and trembling.
• Philippians 2:30 speaks of the work of Christ that brought Epaphroditus close to death.
• I Thessalonians 1:3 speaks of the work of faith and labor of love.
• 2 Timothy 4:5 speaks of the work of an evangelist.
• I Corinthians 12:11 speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit.
• 2 Corinthians 6:1 declares us workers together with God.

Now, 4 things I want to highlight for you about our work:

• I Corinthians 15:57-58 tells us to be “always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
• I Corinthians 3:13 tells us that “fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.”
• John 9:4 tells us “the night is coming when no one can work.”
• Jeremiah 48:10 warns us: “Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.”

George Eliot once wrote: “It is vain thought to flee from the work that God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found – in loving obedience.”

GOD SAYS ENTERING IN IS ENTERING TO POSSESS THE LAND.

Please remember – the Bible is a picture book, and when we read about possessing a land, we can see that the Old Testament historical happening is an unveiling of what God wants to accomplish in us – we are the “land,” the “field,” the “vineyard.”

“So they said, ‘Arise, let us go up against them. For we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good. Would you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, and enter to possess the land. When you go, you will come to a secure people and a large land. For God has given it into your hands.” (Judges 18:9-10).

But then God spoke through Jeremiah (2:7) when He said, “I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination.”

In Deuteronomy 7:1-2 Almighty God gave the command that the seven strong nations on the promised land were to be conquered and destroyed. They were to show no mercy. And on YOUR “land” there are seven nations greater and mightier than you and they are to be driven out. You are to “possess the land” showing no mercy on that which is so un-Christ-like!

Look at the spirit of the “Amorites,” meaning to “publicize” or “promote.” It represents the boastful, self-promoting who thrive on the root of self-glory and self-praise. That’s pride and prominence for number “I” – “self.”

Look at the spirit of the “Hittites,” coming from a root word meaning “terrifying,” that which produces fear or dread in your heart. It’s that “nation” that “breaks down protective walls through violence and fear.” But God said to Abram in Genesis 15:1, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.” These “Hittites” are creators of storms to take you under or down on your voyage on the sea of life, but Jesus came in the midst of a storm to say, “It is I, do not be afraid” (Matthew 15:27).

Look at the spirit of the “Perizites.” The root word means “to decide to separate.” It is the picture of one who is irreconcilable and unforgiving. In Matthew 18 Jesus told of an unforgiving servant and of two things that happened:

• He turned him over to the torturers.
• The Master reinstated the debt!

Look at the spirit of the “Canaanites,” which means “bowed down” or “brought low.” But the picture is not that of humility but that of rejection. It is the picture of men who are in subjection and slavery to lust for approval, who are more interested in the praise of men than the praise of God! In Galatians 1:10 Paul asks, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” To the church at Thessalonica, Paul said, “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” (I Thessalonians 2:4).

Look at the spirit of the “Hivites,” which comes from a word that basically meant “Eve” or “first woman,” who rebelled against the Word of God and believed the lie of Satan that you can sin and not die. It is basically being god unto yourself with an attitude of “A fist in Your face, God! I am doing as I please.”

Look at the spirit of the Jebusites,” which means “trodden down” or “trampled underfoot,” which is what the powers of darkness even now seek to do to you. They want to step on you and grind you into the dirt!

Look at the spirit of the “Girgashites.” It is interesting that I could not find a definition of it anywhere which tells me there is a spirit out of nowhere that will blindside you, surprise you, and astound you that “that” could even be on your “land.” Ever sensed it?

GOD SAYS ENTERING IN IS ENTERING THE PLACE OF PRAYER.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Talking about “Capturing The Vision,” I have never seen, read about, or discovered a mighty man who was used of God who was not a man of prayer. Every human instrument God has mightily used was a Heaven-Invader, laying hold of God in prayer.

Dallas F. Bullington, in the Akron Baptist Journal, once wrote: “Do you know what is wrong with the world today? There’s too much theologian and not enough kneeologian.” He is right!

Alexis Carrel, in his article “Prayer”, wrote: “Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can generate. The influence of prayer on the human mind and body is as demonstrable as that of secreting glands. Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity. It supplies us with a flow of sustaining power in our daily lives.”

Though prayer may be a force as powerful as terrestrial gravity, I long for people whose sole desire is Terrestrial Grace impacting lives because they faithfully acknowledge and submit themselves to the sovereignty of God.

G. Ashton Oldham put it like this: “Prayer is the chief agency and activity whereby men align themselves with God’s purpose. Prayer does not consist in battering the walls of heaven for personal benefits of the success of our plans. Rather it is the committing of ourselves for the carrying out of His purposes. It is a telephone call to headquarters for orders. It is not bending God’s will to ours, but our will to God’s. In prayer, we tap vast resources of spiritual power whereby God can find fuller entrance into the hearts of men.”

Here is my heart-cry for you, your family, and the Body of Christ of which you are a part: Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.”

Are you entering in to capture the vision of God?

CHAPTER FOUR

THE SOUNDS OF HEAVEN

In Leviticus 26:25 the Lord speaks about “vengeance for the covenant,” released upon those who betray His covenant of grace and walk in disobedience. There are awful prices to pay for the spirit of apostasy and the deeds of spiritual harlotry. One such judgment is found in Leviticus 26:36, “The sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee.” I have no desire to live with that kind of fear, frightened simply by the sound of a shaken leaf!

One of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, speaks about “the wicked man who writhes with pain all of his days,” who has “dreaded sounds within his ears: (Job 15:20-21). I have no desire to hear those dreadful sounds.

The Word of God also speaks of “uncertain sounds.” In I Corinthians 14:8 Paul asks, “If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?”

Even sadder is when God’s judgment comes upon His own people and He says, “Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.” (Jeremiah 16:9).

As heaven rejoiced over the destruction of Babylon, the mighty angel in Revelation 18:22 said, “And the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in her any longer.” Good! There are too many millstones crushing out contaminated grain. But we do need to hear the sound of the millstone that crushes out the true grain of “the Bread of Life.” In 2 Corinthians 4:2 Paul said he was not “walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully.” God , oh God, give us more men of the pure Word – unadulterated by men’s philosophies, traditions and vain deceit!

Mary had learned from the angel that she was to be with child and “that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Mary went to visit Elizabeth and something supernatural happened upon her greeting: Elizabeth exclaimed, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1:44). And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit!

I don’t need a greeting from Mary, but I do need to hear those “sounds of heaven” that cause the spirit of God within me to leap for joy and bring a fresh in-filling of all that He has for me! I certainly don’t want my life to be what the Apostle Paul warned against – “a noisy gong or clanging cymbal” because there is no love. I do, however, desire that the sounds of heaven radiate through my life in a clear, distinct sound so that men and women around me, upon hearing those sounds of heaven, arise to meet the Master!

I read recently Duncan Campbell’s “The Price and Power of Revival.” He asks: “Are there sounds from heaven today? I say yes, it is happening today! Some of us saw it happen in churches comparatively empty, the youth given to pleasure rather than seeking after God, then suddenly there was a sound from heaven, and the whole community became saturated with God and men and women were swept into the Kingdom. We had not organized, we had no publicity program, but heaven’s messengers moved in the midst of the people, and in a matter of hours churches became crowded as scores were swept into the Kingdom of God.”

There are “Sounds of Heaven.”

THERE IS THE SOUND OF BLESSING. I Kings 18:41 says, “And Elijah said unto Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” In Scripture, rain represents blessing and drought symbolizes a curse. In Deuteronomy 28:12 we are instructed, “The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand.” In contrast, verse 24 speaks of the curse that comes upon those who rebel against God and says, “The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.”

These were natural occurrences for a natural historical people. But you and I are of the supernatural – we are His “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…” (I Peter 2:9). God has not called us to a drought! He has called us to the “sound of the abundance of rain.”

You’ve been discouraged lately, maybe in a state of despair. You’ve been in the dry places, a drought of soul and spirit. It hasn’t been for you “showers of blessing,” it’s been powder and dust that has come upon you. I’m here to tell you, look into the face of Jesus right now! Proverbs 16:15 says, “In the light of a king’s face is life, and his favor is like a cloud with the spring rain.” God is here to lead you out of the bondage of your land of discouragement. Listen to the sound, the sound of the abundance of rain! It may be only a reminder you need today or a revival of its truth in your heart, but Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”! Listen for it, look for it, receive it! It is there for you!

THERE IS THE SOUND OF GOD’S BENEVOLENT, GRACIOUS VOICE. Ezekial 43:2 says, “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.” Do you long for your land to shine forth His glory? Then hear the voice like the sound of many waters!

Do you long for your life and ministry to shine with His glory? Then hear the voice like the sound of many waters! Do you long for your church to shine with God’s Glory Cloud? Then hear the voice like the sound of many waters!

Our Lord and Savior still walks among the seven golden candlesticks and He still says: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches”!

In Matthew 10:27 Jesus says, “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”

John 10:4 says, “When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him BECAUSE THEY KNOW HIS VOICE.” The psalmist said, “How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance” (Psalm 89:15). O God, tune our ears to hear the sounds of grace, mercy, and love!

THERE IS THE SOUND OF THE SOVEREIGN WIND OF REGENERATIVE POWER. Jesus spoke frankly with a religious leader in John 3:7-8 saying, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Oh, I ask you with all the compassion of God I can muster, “Have YOU heard the sound of the sovereign wind of regenerative power?” Some local churches have bought the lie that they are beyond the age of spiritual child-bearing. No new life, no zeal to see men and women, boys and girls born into the Kingdom of God. They have settled into stagnation-barrenness!

The prophet saw it and came with a word of great Holy Ghost encouragement: (Isaiah 54:2), “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,’ says the Lord. ‘Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords, and strength your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations, and they will resettle the desolate cities.” Do you hear that sound?

THERE IS ALSO THE SOUND OF BATTLE.

In I Chronicles 14:15 David heard from God. The Philistines once again had made a raid against God’s people. And YOU must be aware that in the same way the enemy of God’s people had backed off for a season and returned once again – you must be ready also! If you are enjoying a temporary reprieve, be sure that there is coming another raid on the valley of your habitation!

So God said to David, “And it shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.”

What do we do?

• Listen for the sound
• Listen for the sound of marching: the Heavenly hosts, the army of God’s warring angels
• Then YOU go out to battle
• You go out with confidence and assurance because God has gone before you
• God strikes the enemy in your behalf – because you went out in faith and obedience!

But listen to the sad note, because it may be personal to you and an honest and truthful evaluation as to why you’re not walking in victory. In 2 Samuel 11:1 the Word says, “Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent for Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. BUT DAVID STAYED AT JERUSALEM.” Verse 2 goes on to say, “Then it happened…” FAILURE comes when one loses the will to fight!

Paul said to Timothy, (I Timothy 6:12), “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…” Do you hear the sound of marching in the top of the mulberry tree?

THERE IS THE SOUND OF HOLY FIRE.

In Ezekial 10:5,6 the prophet has a powerful up-to-date Word for us as we face the battle of our lives. “Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks. And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, ‘Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,’ he entered and stood beside a wheel.”

In Psalm 104:4 we are instructed that God “makes his ministers a flame of fire.” But perhaps you have become a dying wick! Perhaps you have become smoke and ashes! Do you know there is hope for you?

There’s the sound of the wings of the Cherubim that was heard! And God Almighty speaks, “Take fire from among the wheels!” He’s going to give it to His man who is clothed with Christ! Hear the sound – TAKE THE FIRE!!

• It’s the fire of testing, the fire of unconditional, full surrender. In Genesis 22:5-16 Abraham faced the ultimate test of his life – “And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and return to you.’ And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it in his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.”
• It’s the fire of Heavenly attraction. Look at Exodus 3:2-3. You are reading this by divine appointment today perhaps because you have lost that passion to know Christ, you’ve lost that passion to pray, you’ve lost that passion for the hunger of God’s Word and His righteousness. Your faith, calling, and ministry have been hanging in the balance and found wanting. But God loves you, the bush still burns! Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight.” The bush still burns – it has not and will not be consumed! In Isaiah 42:3 God says, “I will not extinguish a dying wick!” Have you heard the sound of the wings of the Cherubim?
• It’s the fire of heavenly prayers uttered in your behalf. (Isaiah 62:1-5), “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning. And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will designate. You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. It will no longer be said to you, ‘Forsaken,’ nor to your land will it any longer be said, ‘Desolate;’ but you will be called, ‘My delight is in her,’ and your land, ‘Married;’ for the Lord delights in you, and to Him your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.” That’s A Promise!
• It’s the fire of Holy Spirit renewal. In Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist said, “As for me, I will baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” The Lord’s will is clear: “Be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

EXAMINE THE SOUND OF THE VOICE OF GOD’S THUNDER.

Are you listening for the gracious sound of the voice of God’s thunder chasing away the flood waters of your life? Psalm 104:7-9 is so powerful! “At the voice of Your thunder the flood waters hastened away…that they may not return to cover the earth.”

God knows where you are; He knows what shape you are in; and He knows whether you’re walking on the water of faith or sinking down because of the “flood”!

In Psalm 69:1-3 David cried out, “Save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; my eyes fail when I wait for my God.” Are you waiting for God?

Have you heard the voice of God’s thunder? Hear it! Psalm 29:1 says, “The Lord sat as King at the flood; yes, the Lord sits as King forever.”

Again the psalmist testifies in Psalm 18:16, “He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters!” Look at Psalm 93:3-4! “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.” Do you hear the thunder? No more floods in your life! God chases them away, and it is by His Spoken Word! Battering waves hear God’s voice!

THERE IS THE SOUND OF THE BEAUTY OF HEAVENLY PRAISE.

Luke 2:13-14 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” Have you heard it? Psalm 96:11 says, “Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad.”

We are of those who “shout joyfully to the Lord…who break forth in song, rejoice and sing praises. We sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm; with trumpets and the sound of a horn…” We are instructed to join with the sound of heavenly praise and praise the Lord! He inhabits the praises of His people!

THERE IS THE SOUND OF THE HOLY ANGEL ANNOUNCING HIS RESURRECTION.

Kings and kingdoms have set themselves together against our Lord and His anointed. The nations have raged and the people have plotted vain things to break His claims, to shatter His cords from them, and to erase His name and memory. The powers of darkness, with Satan in the lead, have marched against Jesus and His Church. They sounded the alarm. They rallied the armies. They devised a scheme : “Let Him be crucified! Put Him to death! Silence His voice!” So they nailed Him to a tree where Jesus suffered and bled and died. They put Him in a tomb. “There; that should be the end of that!” Then three days later, “What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of music!”

In Matthew 28:5-6 “the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” Do you hear that sound? It’s the sound of resurrection life, power, and hope!

THERE IS THE JOYOUS SOUND OF JESUS’ SOON RETURN.

I Corinthians 15:52, 57 says “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed…Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Many have quit listening for the sound of His trumpet announcing His return – don’t give up hope, don’t become so entangled in this present day that you lose sight of His promised return. The angel didn’t lie! “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up to heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

One of my favorite hymns says: “Some golden daybreak Jesus will come; some golden daybreak battles are won; He’ll shout the victory, break through the blue, some golden daybreak for me and for you.” Are you listening for the trumpet?

THERE IS THE SOUND FROM HEAVEN OF A RUSHING MIGHTY WIND.

There is no greater need for the church today than the appropriation of Pentecost’s promise, blessing, and fulfillment. It’s not a matter of theological discussion, but a matter of Truth’s discovery. It’s not a matter of denominational pride, but a matter of all disciples’ power from on high. It’s not a matter of one disciple’s badge of honor, but a matter of all disciples’ blessing of Holy Spirit power!

Acts 2:1-4, 6 says, “And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance…And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because they were each one hearing them speak in his own language.”

Again, Duncan Campbell, in his book, “The Price and Power of Revival,” said: “I love that passage in Acts that tells us that ‘when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together.’ “ What was noised abroad? What was happening in the midst of men? What was noised abroad? That men and women were coming under deep conviction. What was noised abroad? That men and women in the community appeared like drunken men because they were drunk by the mighty power of God. That was God’s method of publicity, and until the church rediscovers this and acts upon it, we shall at our best appear to a mad world as a crowd of common people in a common market babbling about common wares. The early church cried for unction, not entertainment because they knew that unction creates interest and real soul-concern.”

• *Human effort uses entertainment – God uses the Holy Spirit!
• * Human effort produces frustration – the Holy Spirit releases fire!
• * Human effort covets political influence – God commissions supernatural inspiration!
• *Human effort births church members – the Holy Spirit births disciples!
• *Human effort gives nothing but anxiety in ministry – the Holy Spirit grants adequacy!
• *Human effort breeds the counterfeit – the Holy Spirit breeds sons and daughters of the Most High God!
• *Human effort produces spiritual declension – the Holy Spirit produces revival!

LASTLY, THERE IS THE SOUND OF HOLY SPIRIT PARTICIPATION IN THE HEAVENLY, NEW JERUSALEM.

I get so excited every time I read Hebrews 12:22-24 which says, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

Verse 28 goes on to say, “…we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken…” Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? There is more, so much more ahead of us. And they are not faint sounds, but the full sounds of heaven’s gathered companies. Paul said in I Corinthians 2:9, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Are you listening?

In I Thessalonians 4:16-17 Paul wrote, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” Are you listening?

Peter explodes with eternal expectancy, saying in I Peter 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” Are you listening for the sounds of heaven? Jesus frequently used the phrase, “He who has an ear let him hear” – we are encompassed by the sounds of heaven, only those who have an ear to hear ever do.

ARE YOU LISTENING FOR THE SOUNDS OF HEAVEN?

CHAPTER FIVE

LIVING IN THE HIGH PLACES

I don’t even remember the song, but I do remember a phrase of it that said, “You take the high road, and I’ll take the low road…” I do believe that some have never really learned about “Living In The High Places” because we have been so busy trying to survive on the low road.

David was called “a man after God’s own heart.” Are YOU? He’d made the choice! 2 Samuel 22:2-3 says, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You DO save me from violence.” What a tremendous statement of faith, a powerful statement of dependence, a liberating statement from doubt and fear! But that is only the beginning! Look at verses 33-34: “God is my strong fortress; and He sets the blameless in His way. He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and SETS ME ON MY HIGH PLACES!” Holy God has a heavenly design, taking us off the low road and sovereignly placing us in His High Places!

Deuteronomy 26:18-19 says, “The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you [see I Peter 2:9-10], and that you should keep all His commandments, and that HE SHALL SET YOU HIGH ABOVE all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.” In Isaiah 57:15 God speaks – “For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place…”

You and I have choices! Do you remember the man who “had his dwelling among the tombs”? (Mark 5:3). There IS the “dwelling among the tombs” OR ascending “the hill of the Lord” (Psalm 24:3). Where are you living?

The prophet Jeremiah saw it with those eyes of faith (Jeremiah 17:12). “A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary [a sacred place, a holy place].”

Luke 6:35 speaks of “sons of the Most High.” That is such an awesome, illuminating, liberating statement! Not only is it a powerful declaration of faith, but also a persuasive statement of responsibility – we’re called TO the Most High and to His High Places!

Paul said to his spiritual son, Timothy, “God has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity…” (2 Timothy 1:9). The word “granted” is “didomai,” meaning “given us”!

GOD HAS GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF HEAVENLY PROTECTION FROM OUR ENEMIES!

The psalmist cried out (Psalm 59:1), “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.” Again, in Psalm 61:1-4 the psalmist said, “Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.”

To follow the Lord Jesus Christ is not an exemption from strife, conflict, battles and attacks from the “enemy”! Pause and reflect upon what Paul said to Timothy: “Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words. At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” (2 Timothy 4:14-18).

One verse of “Amazing Grace” is often overlooked. It says: “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

If you have never studied the life of Martin Luther, it would be worth your time to study what brought him to write that great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Look at the words:

“A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe – His craft and power are great, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, Were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing.

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He – Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.

And tho’ this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, For God has willed His truth to triumph thru us.

The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him – His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours thru Him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also_ The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.”

It sounds like Job, doesn’t it? In Job 13:15 he said, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him!” Do you remember Nebuchadnezzar’s question? In Daniel 3:15 he asked, “What god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” as he prepared to thrust Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego into the fiery furnace. Do you remember their answer? It’s found in verse 17.”If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.”

HE HAS GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF PLENTIFUL PROVISION OF THE MERCIES OF GOD.

Psalm 103:11 says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.”

Isaiah was even bolder and stronger when he said in Isaiah 30:18, “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you…”

Then Paul said to the church at Ephesus, (Ephesians 2:4-6), “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

I grew up on the song that says, “Mercy there was great and grace was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me, There my burdened soul found liberty – At Calvary.”

Exodus 25:17 tells us of “a mercy seat of pure gold!” What is YOUR heart-cry? Justice or mercy? Isaiah 63:9 says, “…In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.” Do you receive it? MERCY REDEEMS, LIFTS, AND CARRIES! Paul said to Timothy, “I was shown mercy” (I Timothy 1:13). Lord, open our eyes and show US mercy!

In Luke 18:13 the publican cried out, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.” Far too few find mercy because they whitewash sin and never see themselves as “the sinner.” Then there are those who never truly become “living sacrifices” because they have never been to the mountain of the multitudinous mercies of God! Look at Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” What a high and holy place is the mountain of God’s mercies!

HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF POWERFUL DEPENDENCY WHERE GOD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING AFFLICTION INTO AN ANTHEM OF PRAISE, TROUBLE INTO THE SYMPHONY OF TRIUMPH, AND EVEN THE STING OF DEATH INTO THE HYMN OF ETERNAL VICTORY.

To “capture the vision” for your daily pilgrimage, the Psalms MUST become a part of your spiritual journey. I want you to carefully follow Psalm 107:33-43!

“He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry lands into watersprings. There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a harvest. He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”

Look again at verse 41: “Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction…” The poor? He can be the wealthiest man on the face of the earth, but in his heart he is broken, spiritually humbled, and bankrupt of his own worth and value. He is the publican, not the Pharisee. He is the empty ego, the “nobody” who finds he is “Somebody” only in Christ. He is the “nothing,” the “zero,” who has been filled with the fullness of Christ. He is poor – and God Himself has raised him “far from affliction.”

It’s not that he never faces it, but he is freed from it. It’s not that he never undergoes trouble, but he is raised above its impact to a holy place of rest.

No one has ever faced any more tribulation than the nation of Israel as they were being delivered from slavery to Egypt. In Exodus 14 we see them on the journey, but Pharoah’s army is in hot pursuit. In verse 13 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.” Verse 14 follows with: “The Lord will fight for you, ‘and you shall hold your peace.’”

What a place to be! You face affliction and God transforms it into a place of peace. You face the torment of an alien army and God releases nothing but a peace that passes all understanding. You face that sting of death but resurrection life raises you above it.

After Exodus 14 and the armed conflict, chapter 15 begins like this: “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song…” I encourage you to read beginning at verse one, but hide verse 13 especially in your heart – “You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation…”

To the church at Corinth, Paul said: “Now thanks be to God who ALWAYS leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF DISCIPLINED FAITH WHEREIN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IS RESTED.

In Psalm 113:3-5 the Holy Word says, “From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high?”

If you have not learned it as yet, we serve the absolute monarch of all ages, nations, and people groups. He is divinely omnipotent. He IS the sovereign ruler over all – even over the powers of darkness.

It’s not a trite statement, but one pregnant with eternal truth – “Our God Reigns!” Psalm 146:10 says, “The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations.” In Psalm 47:8 it reads: “God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.”

Divine sovereignty and our submission to it is not only the well-spring of Holy Ghost regeneration but also the essence of Holy Ghost revival! Isaiah said, “The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high.” (Isaiah 33:5). The question is, is He exalted in your heart and in your life?

Contemplate the words of this great old hymn: “My faith has found a resting place – not in device or creed; I trust the ever-living One – His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me.”

That’s Immanuel! That’s God-in-the-flesh! That’s the Sovereign Ruler of the ages – and He died for me!

HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF HEAVENLY PRAISE!

Psalm 149 is such a powerful word for every disciple. It says: “Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the assembly of saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name with the dance; let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment – this honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord!”

What did verse 6 say? “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand…” Why? Because Psalm 145:3 says, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised…” And then Psalm 22:3 tells us that He “inhabit[s] the praises of Israel.” Do you realize how many never sense God’s presence? They never sense God’s presence because praise is absent from their hearts and lips!

Isaiah 43:21 says, “This people I have formed for Myself, they shall declare My praise.”

PRAISE IS DECLARATIVE – Exodus 15:2, “This is MY God, and I will praise Him.”

PRAISE IS BLESSING – I Chronicles 16:36, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting.”

PRAISE IS INTERPRETIVE – Psalm 7:17, “And I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.”

PRAISE IS THANKSGIVING – I Chronicles 23:30, “And they are to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord…”

PRAISE IS BECOMING – Psalm 33:1 “Praise is becoming to the upright.”

PRAISE IS ENDURING – Psalm 111:10 “His praise endures forever.”

PRAISE IS THE CONQUERING SPIRIT – Psalm 149:6-9 “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment – this honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord!”

PRAISE IS JOYFUL – Psalm 71:23 “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed.”

HE’S ALSO GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF HEAVENLY PROCLAMATION.

Does the Word of God excite you as it does me? Look at Isaiah 40:9-11. “O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.”

Say to the cities, “Behold your God!” What an awesome privilege and responsibility. I have always said to my sons that I had rather preach the gospel in the smallest village of India with little wages than to step down to be the King of England, President of the United States, or Chief Minister of India! “Behold your God!” He comes, He rules, He works, He feeds, He gathers, He carries, and He gently leads.

Here is how Paul addressed that royal assignment to the church at Rome (Romans 10:13-15), “For ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’”

Let me “gently” remind you, according to 2 Corinthians 5:18, our Lord has given to every disciple “the ministry of reconciliation,” and he reminds us in verse 20 that we all are “ambassadors for Christ”! Are you living in that high and heavenly stratosphere of faithful proclamation of the good tidings?

HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF HEAVENLY PROSTRATION. Let the impact of Isaiah 57:15 do an effective examining, expressing a work of grace in your heart as you read it. Look! “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place WITH HIM WHO HAS A CONTRITE AND HUMBLE SPIRIT, to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

Paul put it like this to Timothy: “For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.” The greatest and highest standing within the kingdom of God is for that humble and contrite spirit that faithfully walks out the Gospel as a servant of Christ!

What did Paul say to the church at Philippi? (Philippians 2:5-9). “Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.”

Then through Jeremiah God gives us a warning! Jeremiah 49:16, “Your fierceness has deceived you, THE PRIDE OF YOUR HEART, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle I will bring you down from there,’ says the Lord.”

As Jesus willfully chose the way of servanthood, Paul said that God EXALTED HIM! James 1:9 says, “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation…” Far too many know little about living in the high and holy place because they never discerned the spirit of the “lowly brother”!

HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF THE PERENNIAL PROVISION OF THE EVER-ABIDING WATER OF LIFE. Jeremiah 17:12-14 says, “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the PLACE OF OUR SANCTUARY. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.’ Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.”

The world around us more and more becomes a dry and thirsty land, yet those who have found the glorious high throne and know the place of their sanctuary never thirst; from within there flows “rivers of living water.”

The well of God’s faithful provision of living water never runs dry!

HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF PRECIOUS AFFECTION. Colossians 3:1-3 says, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Ezekial saw that High Place! In Ezekial 47 he tells of seeing a flow of water “flowing from under the threshold of the temple.” He saw its intensification as it went from ankle deep to such depths like a mighty river that could not be crossed, one had to swim. With all of my heart, I believe that was the Holy Spirit “given without measure” to the body of Christ whose fruit is love! Romans 5:5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint, because THE LOVE OF GOD has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

One of the sad words Paul confronts the church with today is found in 2 Corinthians 6:12 when he said, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.”

We are not called to restrained affections, but to a heart that is wide open! We are not called to selectionle affections, but to a love broader than this world! We are not called to limited affections, but to a limitless love! “Love the Lord your God!” “Love one another!” “Love your enemies!” What a high and holy love God Almighty has called us to, a love as true as the eternal cross of Christ! Have you been baptized in the river of love?

LASTLY, HE’S GIVEN US A HIGH PLACE OF POWERFUL EXPECTATION. In Revelation 21:10-11 John has ‘Captured the Vision’! “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” There is something more! There is something eternal! There is something forever! There is something beyond!

To the Corinthians Paul said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (I Corinthians 15:19). We are not called to pity but to the pleasure of God’s Eternal Day! We are not called to a grave but to the Resurrection! We are not called to “old age” and then death, but to the reality of eternal youthfulness and forever fellowship with the reigning Christ! We are not called to hopelessness but to the hope that we have “as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” (Hebrews 6:19). What a high place of powerful expectation!

I don’t know what road you have chosen, but I choose the high road. I want to live in those high places God has unveiled for us through His precious Word. I love the book of Isaiah so much. There is such expectation throughout. In chapter 62, verses 10-12, the prophet wrote:

“Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway! Take out the stones, lift up a banner for the peoples! Indeed the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world: ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, “Surely your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” And they shall call them The Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” AMEN?

CHAPTER SIX

AS HE IS…SO ARE WE!

The truth of the Gospel and its power to save grows sweeter with every passing day. The depth, length, height, and breadth of the love of God illumines the mind with the greatness of God’s intent. The people of God are those blessed of God beyond measure. Every new day unveils understanding of the greatness of our salvation.

Paul to Titus was 110% correct when in Titus 2:5-7 he wrote, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom HE POURED OUT UPON US RICHLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” We were “dead in trespasses and sins.” We were “in subjection to slavery under the heavy hand of the powers of darkness.” We “formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, and were by nature children of wrath.” We were “separate from Christ”; excluded from the family of God; strangers to the covenant of promise; had no hope, and were without God in the world.

But through Jesus Christ, no longer are we strangers to the covenant of promise! In Romans 5:1-2 Paul tells us, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Observe carefully – though we were “dead in trespasses and sins,” by our teacher, the Holy Spirit, we have been introduced into grace! We were DEAD but Almighty God “made us ALIVE together with Christ.”

Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that you might have life and to have it more abundantly…” LIFE! LIFE with a capital “L”! Life in the supernatural dimension! The Life of God! Resurrection life, hope, and power! Partakers of the Divine nature!

In 2 Timothy 1:1 Paul describes himself, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus…”

There is an awesome statement the writer of Hebrews makes when he says, “Jesus has become the GUARANTEE of a better covenant.” The word “guarantee” is from two Greek words meaning “under good security.” In other words, you can count on it; you can bank on it. It is not a promise given without the guarantee or security of its fulfillment.

All the promises of God are what? 2 Corinthians 1:20 says in Christ they are “Yes” and even “Amen”!

The writer said “a better covenant.” The word “covenant” comes from a word meaning “granted” or “made.” Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines covenant in two ways: redemption and grace.

Redemption? “The mutual agreement between the Father and Son, respecting the redemption of sinners by Christ.”

Grace? “That by which God engages to bestow salvation on man upon the condition that man should believe in Christ, and yield obedience to the terms of the gospel.”

Between the Father and the Son there was an agreement, there were promises and conditions that would be granted and made because of Christ’s “obedience even unto death.” We need to be reminded – God was “IN CHRIST” reconciling the world unto Himself.

Therefore, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.”

Between the Father and the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, there was an agreement:

• The Son would take our place and the Father would take men of repentance and faith unto Himself.
• The Son would shed His blood in our behalf, and the offense of Holy God, because of our sin, would be satisfied.
• The Son Himself would be the sin offering and the Father would accept us in His Beloved.
• The Son Himself would die and the Father would make us alive in Christ.
• The Son Himself would be the substitutionary sacrifice and the Father would credit to us all that the Son is.

STAND ON THESE HOLY WORDS:

Ephesians 1:6 speaks of our “acceptance in the beloved.”

2 Thessalonians 1:5 speaks of our being “considered worthy of the kingdom of God.”

I Corinthians 1:30 says, “But by God’s doing YOU ARE [in Christ Jesus] WHO BECAME TO US WISDOM FROM GOD, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION, AND REDEMPTION.”

And the major text for this study is I John 4:17, a verse we must never forget: “Because as He is, so also are we in this world…”

I John 5:10 says, “The one who believes in the Son of God has THE WITNESS IN HIMSELF…”

The very heart of Father-God, of God Almighty, of the God of grace and mercy is that you live with that witness in yourself of confidence, of assurance, of an overcoming faith, of the triumphant truths of divine declaration of your Christ-like identity! AS HE IS…SO AM I!

AS HE IS…SO AM I IN THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE.

In Romans 8:2 the Word declares, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” The law of the Spirit of life! IN Christ Jesus! When I come to faith in Christ, it is not a call to what I am already in, sin and death, it is a call to the law of the Spirit of life!

In fact, when you look at Hebrews 7:16 it speaks of our Lord and “the power of an indestructible life!” In Romans 6:23 Paul says it is the wages of sin that is death, but that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you realize what we’ve learned already? In Christ there is eternal life, abundant life, and life in the Spirit!

Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead WILL ALSO GIVE LIFE TO YOUR mortal bodies through His spirit who indwells you.”

Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life…” Romans 6:4 speaks of “the newness of life.” 2 Corinthians 2:16 speaks of “an aroma from life to life.” 2 Corinthians 5:4 describes us as being “swallowed up by life.” I Timothy 2:2 speaks of a “tranquil and quiet life.” Revelation 21:27 says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.”

The Gaithers have it right! “Because He Lives” –“ God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus, He came to love, heal, and forgive;…He lived and died to buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives…Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives all fear is gone;…Because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives.”

AS HE IS…SO AM I IN THE WITNESS AND EXAMPLE OF A LAID-DOWN LIFE.

In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to all of His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The very pattern of one’s true identity in Christ is:

• He is “after Christ” in faithful pursuit and passion.
• He is “denying himself” in counting all things loss to gain Christ.
• He is “taking up his cross,” taking the sentence of death unto himself that the life of Jesus may be manifested fully within him.
• He is “following Christ” in the spirit of “Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go.”

That is why John said in I John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us, and WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE BRETHREN.”

To the church at Thessalonica, Paul bared his heart and soul. In I Thessalonians 2:4-8 and 10-12, the great apostle illumined in a practical way the “As He Is…So Am I” calling: “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness – God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. SO, AFFECTIONATELY LONGING FOR YOU, WE WERE WELL PLEASED TO IMPART TO YOU NOT ONLY THE GOSPEL OF GOD, BUT ALSO OUR OWN LIVES, BECAUSE YOU HAD BECOME DEAR TO US…You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, THAT YOU WOULD WALK WORTHY OF GOD WHO CALLS YOU INTO HIS OWN KINGDOM AND GLORY.”

To those around you, have you imparted not only the Gospel of God, but your own life as well?

AS HE IS…SO AM I IN THE WALK OF OBEDIENCE.

In Hebrews 5:8 there is a description of Jesus. It says, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” You and I are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and one of the necessary lessons of the overcoming life is our learning to obey. Some say, “That’s legalism”; no, it’s an ever-deepening love of our Father. Some say, “That’s law”, no, it’s liberty released because we’ve seen Jesus and His attitude toward Holy God.

David, the king, sang in 2 Samuel 22:45, “Foreigners pretend obedience to me.” But that is true not only of earthly citizens, but also of the professors of heavenly citizenship. In Psalm 81:15 the Word says, “The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever.”

We are not called to be “pretenders”, but “participants” in the very life of our Lord which is a life of obedience. What does the old hymn say? “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Paul said to the Corinthians that we can even “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2Corinthians 10:5). A paraphrase of Romans 16:25-26 says: “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ…for obedience to the faith.” He even complimented the church at Rome when in verse 19 Paul said, “Your obedience has become known to all”!

Peter speaks to all saints and says in I Peter 1:14, “[Be] as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.” The question is – Have I found the path of pleasurable obedience to the Prince of Peace?

AS HE IS…SO AM I IN THE POWERFUL PERSUASION OF PURITY OF HEART?

Do you know who the children of God are? Do you know what it means to truly be a disciple of Jesus? Have you come to full faith and understanding of what it means to be a member of the family of God? Paul said to Titus that we should be (Titus 2:13,14), “looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and ‘purify for Himself a people for His own possession,’ zealous for good deeds.’”

The psalmist asked, (Psalm 24:3-5), “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

Our precious Lord and Savior loves and redeems us as we are in our sin, but He certainly has no intention of leaving us in bondage to sin and self. “He purifies FOR HIMSELF a people for His own possession”!

In I John 3:2,3, John has previewed for us our great inheritance as servants of Christ – “We shall be like Him!” – and then adds: “And everyone who has this hope IN HIM PURIFIES HIMSELF, just as He is pure.”

The writer of Proverbs states persuasively and powerfully in chapter 22, verse 11: “He who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.” Is Jesus, the King of kings, your friend?

But to the church at Corinth, Paul delivered a compassionate warning: (2 Corinthians 11:3), “I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” That is our calling! THE PURITY OF DEVOTION TO CHRIST! The psalmist asked (Psalm 119:9), “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to God’s Word.”

The Bible speaks of:

• The purity of our way – Psalm 119:9
• The purity of heart – James 4:8
• The purity of hope – I John 3:3
• A purified name – Song of Solomon
• Purified lips – Zephaniah 3:9
• Purified souls – I Peter 1:22

To young Timothy, the fatherly Paul said, (I Timothy 4:12), “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, AND PURITY, show yourself an example of those who believe.”

I said earlier that our Lord will not leave us as we are but that He and we, ourselves, are on the journey of purification. Let me give you an illustration.

…A man by the name of Richard Garcia from Knoxville, Tennessee, visited Calvary Baptist Church in Winter Haven, Florida, sometime around 1978 or 1979. I was serving as pastor of that great, compassionate, loving Spirit-anointed fellowship. It was a Sunday morning service that he attended. After he returned home, he wrote a letter to me that I will never forget. He started out like this:

“Pastor Fisher, two years ago I came to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the greatest day of my life. I knew that I was saved and that I was in His hands for the process of being perfected in His image. I didn’t know what all that included until I visited your church…

Pastor Fisher, on that Sunday morning in your church I saw a man that I had thought was dead for about 35-40 years. And he was there on the front row of your church! God pierced my heart. Here’s why:

In the second World War, I was on a naval patrol on an island in the Pacific when we were overrun by the Japanese. It was hand to hand combat and I was so afraid. I was injured and because of my fear, I pulled a dead body over mine and played dead. From that position I watched the battle rage – and the last two standing were a Japanese soldier and the chief petty officer of our patrol. They fought and fought and I thought had ‘mortally wounded’ each other as they both finally fell down bleeding profusely with no movement. I laid there for a long time. No one moved. Finally, I said to myself that I must get back to our lines. I did. And then I told my commanders of fighting the battle until I was the only one left standing. They gave me the Purple Heart and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

But last Sunday I saw the chief petty officer who led our patrol I had thought dead. He is very much alive and I knew I must meet him and apologize. Will you arrange this meeting and I will return to Florida.”

The chief petty officer was Cliff Hawley, a retired agent of the FBI who had also been a stand-in for President Lyndon Baines Johnson – he looked just like L.B.J., big, tall, and strong. He didn’t remember the young man, now much older, but was willing to meet with him. Cliff said, “When you’re in war you don’t like to know the other soldiers intimately because so many are lost on the battlefield.”

Richard closed his letter by saying, “I’ve written the Office of the Armed Services, I’ve made my confession, and I’ve returned the two medals. I’m going to meet Jesus soon and He wants ‘nothing between my soul and the Savior.’” Hallelujah! Out Lord IS purifying for Himself a people for His own possession and Richard Garcia is a huge part of that glorious family!

AS HE IS…SO AM I – TEMPTED AND TESTED YET ETERNALLY TRIUMPHANT.

In Hebrews 2:18 the Scriptures say of Jesus, “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Then in chapter 4, verses 15-16 it says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are , yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Again, Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines “temptation” as follows: “Enticement to evil by arguments, by flattery, or by the offer of some real or apparent good…solicitation of the passions…enticements to evil proceeding from the prospect of pleasure or advantage…an allurement.”

J. Wilbur Chapman had it right – “Temptation is the tempter looking through the keyhole into the room where you are living; sin is your drawing back the bolt and making it possible for him to enter.”

John Bunyan was right also when he said, “Temptation provokes me to look upward to God.” If we do not look upward to God, we will look in, usually to our old sin natures rather than to the Indwelling Christ, and give in rather than resist! It’s why Spurgeon wrote (Memorial Library, Vol. 13, p.40), “The depravity of our nature forbids, first of all, a venturing or presuming to play and toy with temptation!” And it is certainly not the case that a few of the fallen or even a few of the redeemed are peculiarly or sensitively subject to temptation – “We’re All Tempted!” Oh, but notice the liberating truth of our Lord in I Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Hallelujah!

If you walk “As He Is” in the minefield of devilish temptation, victory is assured because of the same Christ within us who faced the tempter in the wilderness in Luke 4:1-14! Three elements of Jesus’ overcoming the tempter and his temptations:

• He stood on the Word – Luke 4:4 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God.”
• He had settled His heart allegiance – Luke 4:12, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.”
• He lived humbly and not in haughtiness before the Lord – Luke 4:12 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

Then notice Luke 4:14, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…” The test of your temptation “can be” the testimony of Christ’s triumph through you!

AS HE IS…SO AM I, FAITHFUL AS A SON OVER MY HOUSE.

In Hebrews 3:6, in speaking of Jesus it says: “…faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”

It is divine truth that frees us to faithfulness like Christ! In Ephesians 2:19-22, the precious Word describes us as “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, IN WHOM ALSO YOU ARE BEING BUILT TOGETHER FOR A HABITATION OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT.” Our lives, in Christ, are for the dwelling of God in the Spirit in us!

There has been a war waged against the Lamb of God; there is a war presently being waged against the Lamb of God; and there will be a war waged against the Lamb of God. The Word of God declares in Revelation 17:14 that “those who are with Him are the called, the chosen, and the faithful.”

In Isaiah 26:1,2 a song is being sung about those who enter the “strong city,” and verse 2 says, “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, the one that remains faithful [or keeps faithfulness].” It’s the way of life for one who is “in Christ.” I Samuel 2:35 speaks of a “faithful priesthood.”

Nehemiah 7:2 speaks of a “faithful man who fears God.”

Nehemiah 9:8 speaks of a “faithful heart.”

Psalm 78:37 speaks of the “faithful in God’s covenant.”

Psalm 119:30 speaks of the one who has “chosen the faithful way.”

Proverbs 13:17 speaks of the “faithful envoy who brings healing.”

Proverbs 14:5 speaks of the “faithful witness.”

Proverbs 27:6 speaks of the “faithful wounds of a friend.”

Matthew 25:21 speaks of the “faithful servant.”

Ephesians 1:1 speaks of the “faithful in Christ.”

Hebrews 3:5 speaks of the “faithful in all his house.”

Then in Revelation 2:10, our Lord speaks – “Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life.” Are you longing for the “Well done…”?

AS HE IS…SO AM I IN THE STEADFASTNESS OF ENDURANCE – EVEN OF THE CROSS.

In Hebrews 12:2,3 we hear our calling again, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."

My faithful co-elder in Belton, Texas, for 17 years, Attorney Thomas Baird, says: “It costs us nothing to begin, but everything to finish.” I believe he is right! We shared preaching and teaching together !

In Revelation 1:9 we hear John’s testimony: “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Christ Jesus…” Did you receive it?

Tribulation…kingdom…and PERSEVERANCE WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS! The persevering, enduring spirit is not our attributes but His availing gift!

Paul told the church at Rome (Romans 15:5), “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus…” God gives us perseverance if we accept it! And the end result?

Look at James 1:12. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

Through this earthly pilgrimage, as we press into Him, read what the Lord said to the Philadelphia church in Revelation 3:10-12. “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown. He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”

Edmund Burke, in “Reflections on the Revolution in France” wrote: “The body of all true religion consists, to be sure, in obedience to the will of the Sovereign of the world, in a confidence in His declarations, and in imitation of His perfections.”

Obedience to the Sovereign will, confidence in His revealed truth, and imitation of His perfections! What is in Jesus? Tribulation! The kingdom rule! And perseverance! Enjoy it as you enjoin yourself to Him!

AS HE IS…SO AM I – SWALLOWED UP IN THE LIFE OF HIS ABIDING LOVE.

John13:1 speaks of the nature and character of our Savior’s love: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, HE LOVED THEM TO THE END.” Unending love! Aren’t you glad?

In the High Priestly Lord’s Prayer found in John 17, our Lord said two things to the Father:

*Verse 18 – “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

*Verse 26 – “…that the love with which You loved Me may be in them…”

Is that love of the Father being released through your life? Do you know that unending love?

Dorothy Gurney wrote a powerful hymn. It says, two verses only: “O perfect love, all human thought transcending, Lowly we kneel in prayer before Your throne

That theirs may be the love which knows no ending, Whom You forevermore do join in one.

Hear us, O Father, gracious and forgiving, Through Jesus Christ, Your co-eternal Word, Who, with the Holy Ghost, by all things living

Now and to endless ages are adored.”

“AS HE IS…SO AM I,” flooded with the wellspring of abiding love!

“As He IS…SO AM I,” bathed in the beauty of Christ’s eternal love!

“AS HE IS…SO AM I,” filled with an unconditional, unquenchable love!

“AS HE IS…SO AM I,” blessed with the fragrance of the sweet aroma of Calvary’s love!

“AS HE IS…SO AM I,” girded with the greatness of Christ’s sacrificial love!

“AS HE IS…SO AM I,” inspired by the covering love of Christ at the cross that causes me to hide another’s transgressions in the sea of agape forgetfulness!

“AS HE IS…SO AM I,” buoyed by the awareness that His banner over me is love!

In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain of the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

George Beverly Shea wrote it and sang it: The song says, “There’s the wonder of sunset at evening, the wonders as sunrise I see, But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul is the wonder that God loves me. O, the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all! Just to think that God loves me!”

Do you need a baptism of heavenly love? Look at Romans 5:8 – “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.” Receive the Holy Spirit, and see a release of the fullness of Calvary love.

In the closing of the epistle to the Hebrews the writer gives an uplifting word (Hebrews 13:20-21): “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing TO DO HIS WILL working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

“As He Is…So Am I!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE GREAT LOOKING

I Kings 18:41-46 is one of the most exciting, encouraging words in all of scripture. Read it carefully:

“Then Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the abundance of rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look toward the sea.’ So he went up and looked, and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And 7 times he said, ‘Go again.’ Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, ‘There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!’ So he said, ‘Go up, say to Ahab, “prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.” Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah.”

CRISIS! That’s a word we all had rather not hear. It’s a cloud we hope will not settle over us. It’s an event we pray will be written into someone else’s life story. But that is not being real, honest, or facing the truth of human experience.

Crisis is defined as follows: “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or for worse.”

That’s a universal experience! It doesn’t matter what part of the globe you live on, you are not exempt from crisis moments. There are moments of conflict, times when confusion wants to prevail and cloud the hearts and minds of God’s people. There are seasons of pain, of frustration, of heartache and of disappoint.

It’s there…we’ll not escape it! And whether we are able to admit it or not, crisis, conflict, and confusion are a part of God’s molding scheme in our spiritual journey. He has ordained it.

There was an experiment conducted at the University of Montreal by Dr. Hans Selvye, professor of Experimental Medicine that related to ‘crisis.’ He took some rats, placed them in a comfortable cage, gave them the best of foods, but they were constantly harassed. He placed a dog outside of the cage that barked and growled and threatened them while they were eating. There was the constant pressure of loud noises produced in a variety of ways. Frequently he dropped heavy objects onto the cage. Soon it was evident that the rats were exhausted although they had not been physically hurt. Crisis had taken its toll!

We all know about crisis, conflicts, and times of confusion. What a crisis when a nation is at war. I was only 5 years of age when on December 7, 1941, I stood beside my grandfather with his ears stuck to the radio learning of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and then our inevitable entrance into the second World War.

There is the inevitable conflict with people who walk with feet of clay. There is the confusion of rejection, those misunderstandings, and then the tragedies of broken marriages and divided families. There is that crisis of failure, the painful blue flame of human experience when we come to the end of ourselves. There is the cloud of sorrow, disappointment, defeat, hurt, antagonism, or hostility.

Crisis comes! It can be with people. It can be the unfolding of nature’s wrath. It can be disturbances that are demonically motivated. Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Years ago I read of a Dr. Franklin as he told about a transcribed radio program. He talked of how the beautiful music was the inspiration of the speaker’s thoughts of love and understanding among men. His thoughts were on the theme of “The Brotherhood of Men.” But Dr. Franklin said that he looked on the label on the jacket of the record that read: “Fingerprints will be produced as audible disturbances on this transcription. Please avoid fingerprinting the grooves by handling the record by the outside rim.” Dr. Franklin said it was a parable of life! The loving voice of our heavenly Father, the heavenly harmony, the symphony of life, may be distorted and marred by minor or major human disturbances. OR…they may be used to mold us into the spirit, faith, and life of a man like Elijah.

Elijah knew about crisis, confusion, and conflict. He stood before the Ahabs and Jezebels of this world. In the flow of the above passage in I Kings 18, Elijah had just trusted in God to defeat the pagan prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth, 850 of them in number, on Mount Carmel. He had just heard King Ahab call him names, “He that troubles Israel!” He had just finished that spiritual conflict of heaven’s war on earth calling down fire from the throne of God to consume the sacrifice on the altar. Now he is saying, “The same God who withheld rain for three and a half years can send it to wash away the godless of Israel!”

In that experience, there is A GREAT LOOKING, a heavenly message that we need to heed. Elijah told his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” What a picture! It’s a picture for the world, for the church, for a life…an unfading picture of victory in a time of crisis. It’s a picture that appears blank with only a frame around it. It seems as if there is a complete lack of evidence for the support of Elijah’s prayer and faith.

On the surface, it says “NO HOPE.” On the surface, it is painted black with the feeling of bleak discouragement on the servant’s part. On the surface, the print of faith reads as despair. “Look toward the seas”…illogical words of a seeming illogical conduct in the zenith of overwhelming odds. “There’s nothing,” responds the servant.

But Elijah didn’t panic. Delay to this dependent prophet was not defeat. The failure of an immediate answer was not God’s final word. Faith supported the head of Elijah’s hopes. Perseverance was the name of the song sung when the coronation service was held for one of God’s prophets. Holding on in hope was the life verse of his walk by faith.

WHEN THE CRISIS OF LIFE COMES, IN “THE GREAT LOOKING” TOWARD LIFE’S SEAS AND OCEAN DEPTHS, LOOK TO GOD IN PRAYER.

Look at I Kings 18:42, “…And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; THEN HE BOWED DOWN ON THE GROUND…”

Elijah hadn’t taken that physical position in order to try to ease his pain of conflict by the power of positive positioning. Elijah was praying! This is the Elijah called out by God to be His holy prophet. This is the Elijah who depended upon God to shut out the rain of heaven for three and a half years. This is the Elijah whom God fed by the brooks through the ravens. This is the Elijah who trusted God to fill the widow’s barrel of meal, whose jar never failed. This is the Elijah who prayed for the resuscitation of the life of the widow’s son, and he lived. This is the Elijah who stood before the false prophets on Mount Carmel and challenged them: “How long do you halt between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” What else would he do when he stands before this crisis with Ahab? What else but pray?

Arthur John Gossip of Aberdeen, Scotland, was one of the greatest among the greats of Scottish preachers. He lost his wife very suddenly, and the first sermon he preached after her untimely death was entitled, “But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?” Among other things he said, “I cannot comprehend how people in trouble and loss and bereavement can fling away peevishly from the Christian faith. In God’s name, fling to what? Have we not lost enough without losing that too?” And he turned to God in a life of Prayer to find the lift above the cloud of the crisis of sorrow and bereavement.

What do people do when crisis comes? What do people do when the revealing tests come? Look at I Kings 18:42 again, “So Ahab went up to eat and drink…” For some, it’s not that priceless privilege to turn to God; it’s another opportunity to gratify self. It’s not that holy hour to hang on to God; it’s the cowardice compromise of sticking our head in the sand and ignoring it. For some, it’s not that monumental moment to discover the power of God, it’s the tragic temptation to become deeper imbedded in the stronghold of self-pleasure, self-evaluation, and self-will.

But Elijah turned to God! It was a crucial day in the life of his people and his nation. For three and a half years the mocking skies of God’s judgment held no clouds over physically and spiritually impoverished Israel. The spirit of rebellion had ruled God out. The nation had sown the wind of willful rejection of Holy God, and they were reaping the whirlwind. The fiery breath of cloudless skies had burned the fields clean; the hot breath of the sun’s rays had scorched their earth. The dead, parched foliage had rustled and rattled in the swirling winds and scorching heat. Deadly drought had swept the streams, lakes, and ponds barren and dry. The cattle died. Desperation was the song of the nation.

But Elijah knew the power of God. He saw it on Mount Carmel. He saw a whole nation turning back to God. I Kings 18:39 says, “Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

And now he lifts his heart to God and prays. He doesn’t pray for fire but for water. The same Sovereign God who withheld the rain, who sent the fire, that same Sovereign God can give the rains again!

Oh, today, how we need to know in the midst of our crisis the God who sends gracious rains. How we need to know the God who answers our prayers. How WE need to pray. We need to see as Elijah the God who turns the face of conflict into the face of conquest. We need to see as Elijah the God who turns the face of personal drought into the face of the spiritual showers of blessing.

Like Elijah, we trust God and pray! Our skies may be filled with brazen iniquities. Our surroundings may be like the thunderous storms of cataclysmic proportion. Our day may be turned into the black night of suffering, but in the midst of tears, grief, heartache, pain, seemingly unbearable pressures, we will turn our faces unashamedly and in confident faith to the God of Mount Carmel; we’ll pray!

WHEN THE CRISIS COMES, IN “THE GREAT LOOKING” TOWARD THE SEA WE WILL LEAN AND REST UPON THE ROCK OF FAITH.

Again in I Kings 18:42, Elijah not only “bowed down on the ground” but “he put his face between his knees.” It’s a picture of being totally finished with himself and fully trusting his God alone. That’s “FAITH”!

In Hebrews 11:1 the Word says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” And in Hebrews 11:19 it says Abraham “…accounted that God was able…”

What is it that we sing? “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.” That song says: “By faith they, like a whirlwind’s breath, swept on o’er every field…the faith by which they conquered death is still our shining shield.” Faith…it’s the anchor of the soul in the storms of life. Faith…it’s the only firm, faithful resting place. Faith…it’s this: “He cannot fail, He must prevail.”

Another favorite hymn says, “Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail…By the living Word of God, I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God.”

Elijah leaned solidly and assuredly on the “rock of faith!” Let’s look at faith. It’s not feeble fables or cunning devices of man’s imagination. What does faith, true faith, do?

*FAITH LISTENS

I Kings 18:41, “Then Elijah said to Ahab…’there is the sound of abundance of rain…” There are no clouds. There had been no rain for three and a half years. No lightning has been flashing. No bolt of thunder rumbling across the horizon. Not one drop of rain has fallen…BUT WAIT!

The man of faith stopped. The man of faith listened in on the deliberation councils of Sovereign God. The man of faith, before the fact on earth, heard the sound of abundant rain in heaven. The man of faith held on to sovereign facts not seen as yet.

Fear says, not so…Faith says, “I Hear.” Fear says, not so…Faith says, “I hear abundance.” Fear says, not so…Faith says, “I hear the sound of abundance of rain.” Fear says, not so…Faith says, “I told you so” as Ahab’s chariot floats down the side of the mountain.

Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Have you listened for God’s Word for you in your moment of crisis?

*FAITH LOOKS UP

Verse 43, Elijah said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea…” Is it real for you? The hymn says and we sing it:

“My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior Divine! Now hear me while I pray…!”

Faith looks up. It looks up into the face of God that doesn’t appear to be there.

Faith says, “Look up…Doubt says, “There’s nothing.”

Faith says, “Look again!” God said through Isaiah (45:22), “Look unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.”

Have you focused? Have you focused your eyes on the faithfulness of God? Have you faithfully focused? Sarah Adams found conflict (or was it providence?) in the illness of her family. Her sister’s ill health forced Sarah to have to give up her own plans of marriage and become the personal, private duty nurse in her own home 24 hours a day. But she focused her faith. She saw her crisis in the light of God’s love and wrote: “Nearer my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! Even though it be a cross that raises me, still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee!”

*FAITH HOLDS ON

Verse 43 says, “Go…seven times.” “There’s nothing.” “Go again.” “There’s nothing.” “Go again.” The sixth time…”Go again. I know that just as certainly as I am standing on Mount Carmel, the clouds are gathering. I know that the windows and doors of heaven have been opened and I have heard the sound of abundance of rain.”

He didn’t sense it. He didn’t feel it. HE FAITHED IT! Then in the first part of verse 44, “Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, ‘There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea…’” Paul said to the church at Corinth (2 Corinthians 4:18), “We look not at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Verse 45, “The sky became black with clouds and wind, AND THERE WAS A HEAVY RAIN…! There’s a rumble of thunder, a flash of lightning, and the rolling in of rain-filled clouds. Nearer and nearer they came over Elijah and Mount Carmel, as he stands with a smile on his face, the wind blowing his hair and clothes in strong breezes. Thunder cannonades across canyons echoing a shout out from the heart of deep caves, “GOD HAS ANSWERED.”

The skies became veiled in glorious clouds. The sound is furious like the torrent of all the rivers that ever flowed in Israel – oceans of water released.

The cloud is called judgment – and it roars. The cloud called anger faces a pagan king. The cloud is called faithfulness and it drops rain like the Niagara. God is riding on the wing of the storm. God is sounding out the voice of promise. It’s a deafening roar. The mountain becomes a channel as the flood of God’s graciousness flows.

Then the rain stops. The sun shines through. The land has been touched with the freshness of God’s cleansing. Faith holds on because “Joy comes in the morning.”

WHEN THE CRISIS OF LIFE COMES, IN “THE GREAST LOOKING” TOWARD THE SEA, WE’LL LIVE IN AN ATTITUDE OF UNWAVERING CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

Verse 46, “Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah…” Here’s what David said in Psalm 23:4, “…I will fear no evil; for You, O God, are with me…”

To the church at Corinth (2 Corinthians 4:8-9), Paul said, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” Why? Because his hand was in the hand of God.

*PLACE YOUR HAND IN THE HOLY HAND OF GOD!

Isaiah knew crisis. He knew trouble. His dear friend Uzziah had died, and broken-hearted, Isaiah went to the temple. Do you remember? He encountered the living God, and he put his hand, a hand of faith, into the hand of God. And what did he say? “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His Glory.”

*PLACE YOUR HAND IN THE HELPING HAND OF GOD!

Reflect upon the words of this great hymn: “Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune me heart to sing Your grace. Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Your redeeming love…

Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hither by Your help I’m come; And I hope by Your good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.”

George Muller explained often how at times in the history of his God-supplied orphanage, he, his staff, and the orphan children had gone to bed at night with nothing in the home for breakfast the next day, but that they had never gone without a meal. One who listened said, “It looks to me like a hand-to-mouth proposition.” To which Mueller responded, “It is, but it’s God’s hand and our mouths.”

*PLACE YOUR HAND IN THE HOLDING HAND OF GOD!

Jesus said in John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”

It’s time to look up! It’s time to focus that spiritual vision on the abundant faithfulness of God’s provision! It’s time to open your eyes to the rains of God that are “Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord!” It’s time to “Lean not unto your own understanding, but in all of your ways to acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” It’s time to appropriate out of your heart “the flow of rivers of living water.” It’s time!!

CHAPTER EIGHT

ALL GLORY TO GOD ALONE

Isaac Watts, a famous hymn-writer of by-gone years knew the reality of “All Glory To God Alone.” One of his famous hymns is entitled “O God, Our Help In Ages Past.” It says:

“O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home!

Under the shadow of Your throne, Your saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is Your arm alone, And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting You are God, To endless years the same.

O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, You be our guide while life shall last, And our eternal home.”

In I Corinthians 4:7 Paul asks an eternally significant question. He asks, “And what do you have that you did not receive?” That is so basic, so fundamental, so foundational, and yet there are multitudes in the “spiritual awakenings”(?) of the last 15-20 years who have become so introverted that they have come to believe that they are where they are by self means, resulting in a self-glory that omits God!

That is not the testimony of either Old Testament or New Testament saints. Never did they consider their victories, spiritual accomplishments, understanding, or their overcoming tenacity to have anything to do with themselves.

David, a great king, said of God, “…my glory and the lifter of my head.” (Psalm 3:3). In Psalm 29:9 he said, “…and in His temple everything says, ‘Glory!’” Then in Psalm 66:2 he said, “Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious.”

Listen to the beloved John in Revelation 19:6-7, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him!” And in Revelation 5:13 he wrote: “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

The writer of Hebrews (3:6) said of Christ: “But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and THE BOAST OF OUR HOPE firm until the end.” What is “the boast of your hope”?

To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 10:17-18), “But he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. For not he who commends is approved, but whom the Lord commends.” Then to the church at Rome, Paul wrote (Romans 15:17), “Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.” Have you found reason for boasting ONLY in things pertaining to God?

Jeremiah the prophet found a wealthy treasure when he heard God speak these words: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts BOAST OF THIS, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

The psalmist wisely said in Psalm 20:7, “Some boast in chariots, and some in horses: But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.” In Psalm 44:8 he said, “In God we have boasted all day long, and we will give thanks to Your name forever.”

Then in Psalm 34:1-3 David erupts like an exploding volcano: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together”!

Now, after that scriptural foundation, let me introduce the heart of our thoughts from John 3:27 when John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.” What is His name? Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end! “All Glory To God Alone!”

First, WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF HIS GIFT OF UNVEILING OF REVELATION, KNOWLEDGE, AND UNDERSTANDING ABOUT HIMSELF.

In Romans 3:10-18 Paul explains the reality of the fallen sin nature of men, that there are none who seek after God. Is that a statement of a cynic or the statement of Holy Ghost revealed truth?

Are YOU a seeker after God? If so, why? Listen to Romans 1:19, “…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them…” The awareness and acknowledgement and discernment of the need of our acceptance of God COMES FROM HIM! It’s His gift!

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT OF HIS DRAWING POWER. Jesus so graciously spoke to His disciples in John 6:44 when He said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…”

In John 15:16 our Savior boldly declares, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you…” The God of the universe, the Christ of Calvary’s cross, came to you and drew you to Himself!

Oh, read the psalmist’s hymn of praise and providence: “He sent me from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hate me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.” (Psalm 18:16-19).

Be warmed by Jeremiah’s revelation of the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for your life as recorded in Jeremiah 31:3, “The Lord has appeared of old to me saying, ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Have you sensed His drawing power of your heart to Him? He is drawing you, and the cross of Calvary stands forever as a testimony of His everlasting love of your life!

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT OF HIS TEACHING TO ENLIGHTEN US. In John 6:45 Jesus said, “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” Taught by God! It is not that Scripture contradicts itself when in Ephesians 4:11 the Word tells us of the gift of pastors-teachers. Our Lord graciously allows men to be the channels of His blessing – but He only is the teacher – we are the tools.

John puts it another way when in I John 2:27 he said, “And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

For 25 years I traveled primarily to India, but also to the Philippines, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Cambodia, Haiti, Bangladesh. One of the awesome times in the seminars when I’m teaching the pastors is when we come to 2 Timothy 2:7 and I read: “Consider what I say, Timothy, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” Our God is no respecter of persons, and when village pastors learn of God’s faithful promise to give them understanding in everything there is revival, celebration, great joy, and they leave with confidence that God will teach them also.

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE CONVICTING POWER OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT.

The prophet Zechariah said, God speaking through him, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10).

The process of salvation necessitates the convicting power of the Holy Spirit for the conviction of one’s sin-blotted heart. That is why I am convinced modern Christianity is filled with “cultural Christians” rather than converted, regenerated, second-birthed men and women.

It took thirty-seven and a half years of my life to truly come to that place of “repentance toward God and faith in Christ alone.” I will never forget February, 1974 when my dear friend, Peter Lord, said to me in his church auditorium, “Farrell, I sense your problem is you’ve never repented of your sin. You go in my office, I’ll stay on my knees at the altar here praying for you, but you need to do business with God. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit will show you your heart, convict you of your sin, and bring you through to true confession, brokenness, and a crying out to Him for your salvation.”

I did, he did, the Holy Spirit did, and God did! I tell the pastors across the world, “It’s good for preachers also to be saved, born again, and filled with the Spirit.” I had grown up in the church ( and thank God for it), gone to Bible college and seminary, then pastored for 12 years, but finally broke through to true salvation because of the Holy Spirit and the love of a friend.

Jesus said this in John 16:7,8 – “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” But also in John 15:22,26, Jesus spoke these illuminating words about sin and the Spirit. Look: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin…But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

John closed out his epistle in I John 5:20 saying, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT OF AN OPENED HEART ENABLED BY HIM TO RESPOND TO TRUTH. One of the awesome times of travel to India was in the early days, about 1983, when the door was opened for me to preach to about 2000 young ladies between the ages of 14 to 20 in a school in southern India in the city of Nagercoil. The Lord had led me to open up Acts 16:14 to these young ladies where the Word tells us about Lydia. “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” Under the anointing of God’s Spirit, I saw about 500 young ladies get on their knees and begin to cry out, “God, open my heart to respond to the things spoken by Jesus.” Has your heart been opened? It always has been a matter of the heart with God! He said to Samuel, “Man looks on the outward appearances – God looks at the heart.”

In Ezekial 36, after talking about washing and cleansing (through the blood of the New Covenant), God promised in verse 26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Oh, but that is not all! Look at what God Opens:

*Psalm 40:6 “My ears You have opened…”

*John 9:30 “…He opened my eyes…”

*Luke 24:45 “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…”

*Ezekial 1:1 “…the heavens were opened, and I saw visions from God.”

*Acts 14:27 “…and how God opened a door of faith to the Gentiles…”

*Zechariah 13:1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and impurity…” Which leads us to:

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST JESUS.

Sometime around 1993 or 1994 I was in Nigeria to do a Pastors’ Seminar and be a part of an open-air crusade in Jos, Nigeria, with Bob Phillips. At one of the night crusade meetings they introduced a young man, about 27-28 years of age, to sing. He was tall, about six feet, six inches, and very impressive. He began to sing and was singing the stars down with the 7000-8000 people in the palm of his hand. I turned to Bob Phillips and said, “Wow, we need to find out about this young man.” We did.

They told us that in his early high school years, about the tenth standard, or sophomore year, he was already probably the best basketball player Nigeria had ever produced. Universities from America were already traveling to see him play, drooling over his skills and abilities. They said he was a magician with the basketball, strong inside, strong outside. BUT…he was a womanizer, already heavy into alcohol, and soon into drugs. He became both an alcoholic and a drug addict and ended up on the streets of Lagos a beggar. He was broken and dying.

One day in his room, he rummaged in his pockets and found a little money. He said to himself that if he didn’t get something to eat he was going to die. He went to a nearby restaurant, the waitress brought a menu, he ordered and she left. When she returned she brought a bowl of water and a towel, a local custom of washing your hands at the table, looked at the young man and said, “Young man, the water in this bowl can wash your hands clean, but only the blood of Jesus can wash your heart pure!” Then she turned and walked away. He ate his meal, returned to his bedbug and rat-infested room, fell across his bed and began to cry out, “Jesus, I’ve never heard of You, don’t know who You are, but if You can help me, please come to me;” then fell asleep in a puddle of tears.

At daybreak the next morning, there was a knock at the door. He arose and went to the door, opened it, and saw an elderly white-haired gentleman standing there. The man (or angel!) said, “Young man, do you have a need? Jesus sent me here.” Hurriedly, he led the old man in, sat beside him, and heard the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, repented of his sins, gave his heart to Christ, and was instantaneously delivered from alcohol and drugs. Then God gave him a song to sing, even praise to our God, and he’s been singing ever since!

What did Peter say? (I Peter 1:18,19). “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Jesus Himself “Bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed” (I Peter 2:24).

Then in I Peter 3:18 we read, “For Christ also suffered once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” Hallelujah! Give Glory To God!

Then in Hebrews 9:14 the anointed author wrote, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT, NOT OF ‘OUR’ WORDS, BUT OF HIS WORD THAT GIVES LIFE.

To the church at Thessalonica, Paul said, (I Thessalonians 2:13), “And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” (I Thessalonians 2:13).Jesus is not a liar. He is not a lunatic, but is Lord God, Immanuel, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In John 6:63 Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

Peter understood it and spoke to the scattered of all ages, “…having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever” (I Peter 1:23). It does what? It lives and abides forever. That is why Jesus, in response to the tempter, said in Matthew 4:4, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” No wonder the Word is so treasured!

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT OF REPENTANCE THAT LEADS TO LIFE.

I have basically said already that repentance is missing from too much of American preaching. It’s as if we have developed an American ‘gospel’ that is in opposition to THE GOSPEL that Paul was not ashamed of! In fact, in 2 Corinthians 11:4 Paul said, “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it.”

To the elders at Ephesus whom Paul called to his side (Acts 20:20-,21), Paul said, [“You know] how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Peter went back up to Jerusalem to explain to the circumcision why he reached out to the “unclean.” In Acts 11:12-18 Peter shared how he was led of the Spirit to go to Cornelius’ house. He preached the Gospel to them and said (v. 15), “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.” Then in verses 17-18 Peter informed them in Jerusalem, “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

I know you didn’t miss it! “Then God has also granted (given, bestowed) to the Gentiles REPENTANCE TO LIFE”! Yes, even repentance is a gift of God – not an emotional attitude, mind-set, or fleshly determination to change. It is a gift of God!

Let me remind you of what Paul said to the church at Rome: (Romans 2:4), “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

Reflect upon 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 as you ask yourself, “Have I truly repented and forsaken my sin?” “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE RICHNESS OF THE GIFT OF LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.

In 2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul wrote: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” And I am not talking about worldly prosperity even though in God’s Sovereignty He may choose to bless you in that way. But, what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?

Look at true wealth through the grace of God! (I Corinthians 1:30), “But of Him [by God’s doing] you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God! – and righteousness [imputed and implanted] and sanctification [set apart for His glory and honor] and redemption [blood-bought]…”

The precious Word of God teaches us three things about the richness of the gift of life from God:

1)It is abundant, John 10:10, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

2)It is spiritual, Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

3)It is eternal, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Are you enjoying and basking in your journey of great riches?

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT OF HIS WORK WITHIN US. I have a little plaque, wooden, in my office that says, “Please be patient with me. God isn’t finished with me yet.”

In Philippians 2:12,13 Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Then, in Philippians 3:20,21 Paul wrote: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

Aren’t you glad? Your God is able even to subdue all things to Himself! Even every part of where you feel there is no hope. Look up – for your redemption draws near!

It does not mean that I don’t have a part. It is why Paul told the church at Colossae, (Colossians 1:29), “To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” I LABOR AND I STRIVE IN ACCORDANCE TO HIS WORKING WITHIN ME!

To the church at Thessalonica Paul put it like this : (I Thessalonians 5:24,23), “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF THE GIFT OF A NEW IDENTITY.

The atheistic George Bernard Shaw said, “Every man is ill at ease until he had found his niche.” I am convinced that when a man has found “his niche” he is in the most dangerous place he has ever been in and will forever remain ill at ease. I am convinced that it is not our niche that eases our spiritual illness but our oneness with God who blesses us with our new identity.

I love and celebrate regularly what Peter said in I Peter 2:9,10, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

I appreciate so much James D. Mallory’s book, “The Kink and I,” subtitled “a psychiatrist’s guide to untwisted living.” The truth is we all have “kinks” our Lord is untwisting, but the great relief comes when you exchange your kinks for your identity as “a new creation,” “ambassadors of Christ,” “sons of God,” “kings (not kinks) and priests.”

I remember my precious friend, Peter Lord, asking someone in the seminar group I was a part of, “How righteous are you?” Then he asked a lady to stand and give an answer. “70%? 90%?40%?” Hesitantly, she finally answered, “I guess, maybe 70%.” “No, dear lady, no; if you are ‘in Christ’ you are 100% righteous because as He is, so are you.” Do you see it, do you understand it? It is exchanging, because of God’s great mercy, your identity as a sinner for your place in the kingdom of God and “sainthood” – those set apart for the glory of God alone. Amen?

Last of all, WE GIVE GLORY TO GOD ONLY BECAUSE OF HIS GIFT OF OVERCOMING POWER. The beloved John said in I John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

In chapter 5:4 John said, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” And didn’t Paul tell us (Ephesians 2:8) that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the Gift of God.”

Overcoming power, the overflow of saving faith, is the gift of God. Our overcoming has everything to do with Him. He deserves the glory and honor!

In closing, the psalmist exalted our God in Psalm 24:7-10, “Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.”

CHAPTER NINE

THE SELF-STYLED HUMANIST VS. SOVEREIGN GOD

Regardless of the intellectual pride of a self-styled humanist, the words of Sovereign God still ring with eternal truth: (Genesis 6:5,6), “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” And there was the judgment of the Flood.

It wasn’t long after that, that “the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” I don’t believe that only means they simply spoke a common language, but that they all were speaking with the same thoughts, ideas, intents – “we’ll be God unto ourselves, so, come, ‘lets us build FOR OURSELVES’ a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven an ‘let us make for ourselves a name,’ lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:1-4)

They had the same goal – “Let us make a name for ourselves!” When I use the term “self-styled humanist” I’m not talking about the classic humanist who is a student of human affairs, but one who places no value in the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, or the mission of the church, and is satisfied deceitfully with his-mankind’s-own potential apart from God!

He even has a peace about him – certainly a false peace and not the peace that passes all understanding – but he has measured himself by himself, and others, and is satisfied with what he sees. He has no need of God and promotes the false doctrine of human potential apart from God.

Joseph Alleine wrote “An Alarm To Unconverted Sinners, “Cursed is that peace which is maintained in a way of sin. Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world; peace with sin, peace in sin.”

In his book “My Utmost For His Highest” Oswald Chambers basically said that humankind wants religion to be amiable. In other words, most people don’t want a message that makes them feel uncomfortable with their sin. He wrote:

“…very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the cross of Christ is a farce, there was no need for it. What the world needs is not ‘a little bit of love,’ but a surgical operation.”

And the sad thing is that the church at large in America has bought into a comfortable, convenient, non-condemning ‘gospel’ that does not produce “Life”.

J.I. Packer wrote in an article printed in “Christianity Today,” entitled “Decadence a la mode”: “Though we negate secular humanist doctrine, we live by its value system and suffer its symptoms.” And he was speaking of Christians and churches!

Prior to his death Francis Schaeffer made this observation: “To accommodate to the world spirit about us in our age is the most gross form of worldliness in the proper definition of that word. And unhappily today we must say that in general the evangelical establishment has been accommodating to the form of the world spirit as it finds expression in our day…in the most basic sense, the evangelical establishment has become deeply worldly.”

Let me ask you some questions:

*Is it that man is simply a victim or is the problem that he is a sinner?

*Is it a pat on the back men need or holy conviction?

*Is humanism an acceptable way to godlike, human potential or is rebirth THE absolute necessity?

*If man tries to live like God, whether he believes or not, is that acceptable?

*Is it that man needs acceptance and approval or that he needs to be converted, regenerated, transformed by the Gospel and the power of God?

*Is it self-worth and self-esteem that is the great need of men or is it Jesus?

I want to remind you of the eternal truth of John 14:6 when Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

To Nicodemus, Jesus said in John 3:7, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again…”

Acts 4:12 is so clear: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

In John 11:25 Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Resurrection and the Life…” But some men love darkness rather than light! There is a choice. There is a crossroad. There is a confrontation with Eternal Truth – and men must decide. The Self-Styled Humanist vs. Sovereign God:

The humanist says, “Release your human potential;” God says, Receive resurrection power.”

The humanist says, “Build your self-esteem and personal value and worth;”

God says, “I crucified it – live by the Life of Another.”

The humanist says, “Increase;” God says, “Decrease.”

The humanist says, “Live by the power of positive thinking, personal motivation, and pride in yourself;” God says, “Live by the power of Sovereign truth, divine strength and confidence in the promises of God.”

The humanist says, “Be strong, live by the grit of self-determination;” God says, “Be weak, live by the greatness of Sovereign leadership and guidance and all-sufficient grace.”

The humanist says, “live by the awareness of self-understanding and the strength of your own personal worth;” God says, “Live by the awareness and access to Calvary’s love and the victory of Christ’s priceless sacrifice.”

The humanist says, “Live by the blood and guts of focus, dream, and visualization to fulfill your dreams;” God says, “Live through the grace and blood of the Lamb that focuses on divine will, heavenly pleasure, and eternal blessings.”

The humanist says, “Live in the liberty and freedom of doing whatever comes naturally;” God says, “Flee youthful lusts and discover true freedom in imputed righteousness, a living faith, a holy love, and abiding peace.”

The humanist says, “Be at peace with yourself, accepting the good and the bad, the light and the dark, and the acceptable and the evil, that’s real life;” God says, “Be at peace with me and accept what I have done to complete you in Christ.”

The humanist says, “Live recklessly in this world savoring every moment of temporal, fleshly indulgence;” God says, “Live redemptively and responsibly in this present, evil world, saving the time for eternal, spiritual benefit and blessing.”

The humanist says, “Exalt yourself;” God says, “I called you through grace and am pleased to reveal My Son in you as you humble yourself and repent.”

The humanist says, Deliver yourself over to ‘life’ and all it has to offer;” God says, “I deliver you over to death for Jesus’ sake that the Life of Jesus may ne manifest in your mortal flesh.”

The humanist says, “Live unrestrained in this present, evil age;” God says, “Follow peace with all men and the sanctification without which no man will see Me.”

The humanist says, “The notion of a God is a study of what is absent, unimportant, or nothing at all;” God says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ But I Am and forever will be.”

The humanist says, “Jesus Christ was only a historical figure who was a good man and died a tragic death;” God says, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God, Immanuel, Lamb of God, Savior of the world, the one way to Me who was: revealed in the Spirit; beheld by angels; proclaimed among the nations; believed on in the world; taken up in glory.”

The humanist says, “Sit on the throne of your own mind, will, and pleasure, ruling and reigning over yourself for your own pleasure;” God says, “Be seated with Christ in heavenly places at the right hand throne of God. Seeking as He did, not His own mind, will, or pleasure but that of His Father-God.”

The humanist says, “Man’s word is sufficient enough for a profitable existence as he looks to himself;” God says, “Man is sanctified only by means on My Word and prayer to the God who does hear and answer.”

The humanist says, “Religious faith is a numbing drug, the opiate of the people that leaves men senseless;” God says, “By grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God.”

The humanist says, “Make a name for yourself;” God says, “The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.”

The humanist says, “Be proud of self-rule in the kingdom of me, my, mine. I am number one;” God says, “Be broken and no longer a stranger and alien to Me, but fellow citizens with the saints and of my household and My kingdom rule that is forever. And, by the way, Christ Jesus, My Son, is to have preeminence in everything.”

The humanist says, “Be friends of this world;” God says, “Friends of this world become My enemies.”

The humanist says, Man in himself is all one needs;” God says, “Man in himself walks in the delusions of his own mind, is darkened in his understanding, and is excluded from the life of God.”

The humanist says, “Neat self;” God says, “There is the need of a new self, being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”

The humanist says, “Establish your ground, your place, your importance. You are what life is all about;” God says, “Establish your hearts unblamable in holiness, a poured out drink offering for others, a servant like My Son.”

The humanist says, “Man is the victim not the sinner;” God says, Man is the sinner, victimized by Satan and the powers of darkness and the destructiveness of his own sin nature and indulgent desires for passions unrestrained.”

The humanist says, “Behavioral science is the key in overcoming one’s limitations, tendencies, and struggles;” God says, “It’s the Gospel of My Son that overcomes sin, not some science of the mind.”

The humanist says, “It’s only personality disorders;” God says, “It’s a matter of fallen nature. Man is fallen, depraved, alienated, separated from Christ, having no hope, without God in this world and there’s only one answer – Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.” John Bunyan wrote, “Christ and Christ only can make us capable of enjoying God with life and joy for all eternity.”

The humanist says, “Temptation to evil passions is normal and natural – enjoy it;” God says, “Temptation to evil is destructive and there is a way of escape.”

The humanist says, “Sincerity, sophistication, and soul-sacredness is the key to understanding mankind, not sin;” God says, “Guilty, vile, and helpless thee, Spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior!”

The humanist says, “The birth of mankind is a picture of innocence, health, and a perfect heart;” God says, “Man’s heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure…Behold, he was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did his mother conceive him.”

The humanist says, “Man’s nature is innocuous (not harmful or injurious);” God says, “Man’s nature is iniquitous.”

The humanist says, Hurting humans are healed when they get a proper view of their own worth and value;” God says, “By the stripes of Jesus they are healed.”

The humanist says, “Man is of great value and worth;” God says, “Man in himself is worthless, unworthy, and useless – but, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, he becomes one of great value and worth – he’s now a son/daughter of God.”

The humanist says, “Affirm, esteem, light up, promote yourself as one of costly importance;” God says, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.” George Mueller once said, “There was a day when I died, utterly died: died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will died to the world, its approval or censure, died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends, since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.”

The humanist says, “The human spirit is a treasure to behold and hold onto;” God says, “I will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever…that is the Holy Spirit of truth, and you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you…He will glorify Christ through you who are redeemed.”

Paul would have a very difficult time in too many churches today if he stood to say as he did to the church at Corinth, (2 Corinthians 5:14,15), “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

In verse 17 he continued, “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” Then in verse 21 he said, “God made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

And because Paul learned the truth, he also learned the greatest reason for life: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

There was an article in one of the newspapers years ago about the death and funeral of baseball’s great Mickey Mantle. It mentioned how Mick had come to know himself before he died and how that knowledge had brought great sorrow. I believe it was Bobby Richardson who led him to Christ on his deathbed. After his commitment to Christ, Mantle asked Roy Clark to sing a song at his funeral entitled, “Yesterday When I Was Young.” The third verse of that song says:

“Yesterday the moon was blue

And every crazy day brought something new to do.

I used me magic age as if it were a wand

And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond.

The game of love I played with arrogance and pride

And every flame I lit too quickly died.

The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away

And only I am lefty on stage to end the play.

There are so many songs in me that won’t be sung

I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue.

The time has come for me to pay for yesterday

When I was young.”

But then Roy Clark also sang, “Amazing Grace!” By what are you living your life? Amazing grace or abominable grit?

I choose to stand, not with the humanists, but with one like Elizabeth Clephane who wrote:

“Upon that cross of Jesus mine eyes at times can see

The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;

And from my smitten heart with tears two wonders I confess –The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.” What do you confess?

CHAPTER TEN

ON WHAT DO YOU MAJOR IN YOUR PILGRIMAGE?

The title is such a vital question for us all. The walk of a disciple is certainly mental as well as spiritual, and sometimes a believer is overcome by misguided, misplaced thoughts rather than the revelation of abiding truth. In Philippians 1:21 Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ!” Three things I believe Paul amplified for us in this scripture:

*”FOR TO ME…” I believe very strongly in sovereign election. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, I chose you.” The initiative is the Father’s. In John 6:44 Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” So True! But having been drawn, there IS a personal responsibility to respond. God has commanded, “Repent and believe the Gospel!” Will I, YOU, do that?

In Proverbs 1:24,25 God says, “Because I called and you refused, I have stretched out My hand AND NO ONE REGARDED, BECAUSE YOU DISDAINED ALL MY COUNSEL, and would have none of My reproof.”

God called and some refused. Have you?

Through Jeremiah, God said, “And now, because you have done all these works, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called, but you did not answer…” (Jeremiah 7:13). Have you?

*”FOR TO ME TO LIVE…” For most, it is a life-long search for life, but always in the wrong places and with the wrong persons. In John 10:10 Jesus proclaimed, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” You will remember that awesome declaration of God to His people in Deuteronomy 30:19,20 – “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

*”FOR TO ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST…” Christ Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Eternal Reality of Heaven’s pre-ordained blessing for fallen man. And without Christ we are lost, we are on the wrong foundation, we are majoring on the minors that sound the chords of ultimate sadness and separation and senselessness from the desires of God for us. Augustine said truthfully forever, “Restless are our souls, O Lord, until we rest in You!”

Is your life a glad symphony or a sad refrain? On what do you major in your life’s pilgrimage? Please, please, examine your heart, your mind, your persuasions as you answer my questions ordained by the Father because of His great love for you!

Do you major on your faults and failures, or on Christ’s strength and redemptive conquests in your behalf? Do you major on your un-acceptance before others, or that you are “accepted in the Beloved?” On your inevitable defeats, or on His eternal victories that always cause you to triumph as you rest in Him?

Do I major on a fear that no one really loves me, or that God proved His love for me in that while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me?

Do I major on my search for personal identity, or do I major on the fact of a true, fulfilling identity of who I am “in Christ”?

Do I major on my sinfulness and the filthy rags of attempt at self-justification, or on my declared redemptive righteousness “in Christ”?

Has my emphasis been on my weaknesses in a debilitating fashion, or do I magnify my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me?

Is my thought life dominated on my oldness in the old sin nature, or on the fact that I am a new creature in Christ and declared by God to be a saint?

Do I major on the cultural and familial curses that want to dominate me, or on the Kingdom of Christ and the faith-filled blessings of that kingdom that liberates me?

Do I major with the psalmist on the sad fact that no man really cares for my soul, or on the glad fact that God has loved me with an everlasting love and drawn me with His lovingkindness?

Do I major on the futility of the fleshliness of the First Adam, or on the finality of the Spirit-Life of the Second Adam?

Am I dominated by what I was before Christ, or on who I am in Christ? On the reigning death of my old sin nature, or the reign of righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ my Lord?

Has my mind been filled with the reality of earthly opposition, that so many are against me, or on the blessed truth that Almighty God is for me?

Do I major on my own personal ineptness in the things of the spirit realm, or that I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me? Do I major on my feebleness in the human effort of being a witness to my world around me, or on the fullness of divine oneness in the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Do I major on my fears of the war with the powers of darkness, or that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under my feet?

Do I major on my inability and the shortcoming of impacting my world effectively, or on Him who is able to establish me redemptively in my world?

Do I major on my personal poverty in the spirit realm, or that I am already enriched in everything spiritual and eternal in Him?

Has my emphasis been on my earthly learning that never brings me to the knowledge of the truth, or on the benefit of the new blood covenant in Christ where I receive His wisdom and His mind?

Am I dominated by my continual war with temptation, or on the truth that my God made a way of escape for me from it?

Is my mind consumed with the thoughts and feelings of restlessness in my life, or that there is now a rest in Christ, and, yes, a rest that remains for the people of God?

Do I major on what is unsure and fading in my life, or upon the anchor of my soul, that is both sure and steadfast, and which enters into the Presence of God behind the veil?

Do I major on my tendency to wander and draw back, or upon the faith, trust, and reliance that causes me to press in to the saving of my soul?

Do I major on my sorrowful chastenings, or do I look beyond to the yielding of the peaceable fruit of righteousness by which God trains me?

Do I major on all that can be shaken in my life, or do I rest and receive in its fullness the Kingdom of Christ which cannot be shaken?

Do I major on the passion for the praise and honor of men, or am I consumed with the passion for the praise of God alone?

Do I major on the works of the law by which no one is ever justified, or on the deeds of the law written on the tablets of my heart by the finger of God through the blood of Christ?

Do I major on the fallen life of my former self without Christ, or on the redeemed life in Christ who loved me and gave Himself for me?

Do I major on setting aside the grace of God in me and focusing on “grit,” or do I stand in the grace of God and focus on His glory?

Am I consumed with being made perfect by the flesh, or do I major on having been perfected by the Spirit?

Are my thoughts on the weak and beggarly elements of my life that lead again to bondage, or on the joy of the Lord that is my strength and the blessed revelations that lead me to full liberty and freedom?

Is my mind captured by the entanglements of the world, the flesh, and the devil that leads again to bondage, or do I stand fast in the liberty by which Christ made me free?

Am I dominated with the less of my former, unredeemed life, or on the much more of reconciliation, being saved by Christ’s life?

Do I major on what I was without Christ – without strength and ungodly, or on the revelational, “rhema” truth that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and by His grace be transformed to the kingdom of the godly?

Do I major on personal condemnation incited by the accuser of the brethren, or on powerful confidence inspired by the affirmer and advocate of the elect?

Do I major on the power of sin in the old man, or on the truth of power over sin because I know I died with Christ at the cross, my old body of sin died with Christ, and that now sin is no longer my master but Jesus rules and reigns in me?

Do I major on the law of sin and death, or on the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus who made me free from the law of sin and death?

Do I live with the emphasis being the carnal mind that is enmity against God, or on the leadership of the Spirit that is life and peace?

Am I consumed with the program of “of me,” “through me,” “for me,” or upon the ministry “of Him,” “through Him,” and “to Him” to whom be glory forever and ever?

Are my thoughts on making constant provision for the flesh to fulfill its best, or do I put on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is my mind on the kingdom of food and drink, or on the Kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost?

Do I major on the emptying of my life of faith of all confidence or assurance, or on the God of hope who fills me with all joy and peace in believing that I may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit?

Do I major on my sadness and sorrows, or on the provision of Holy God that I can live before others with joy in the will of God and may be refreshed and renewed with them as I walk by faith?

Do I major on my earthly, fleshly house that is daily dying, or on the eternal temple of God which is my body where the Holy Spirit dwells?

Do I major on the kingdom that is word only, or on the Kingdom that is of God, filled with Holy Ghost supernatural power from on high?

Do I major on the mindful, discouraging picture of what you were, or on the truth that you’ve been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God?

Do I major on the constant attempts of the stealing, thievery of your time, or on the redemption of your time and the revelation of truth that you may serve the Lord without distraction? The Christ-life is not a compartment but the total sum of all you are and do!

Do I major on the sounding brass and clanging cymbals, or on the greatness of that which abides – FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE?

Is my mind on the fact that I have many adversaries as a disciple of Christ, or on the fact that through it all God has opened a great and effective door for me?

Do I major on that which was buried with Christ – and it stinks – or on the fact that through the new birth you are of God and by His grace have become the fragrance of Christ?

Is my emphasis on the letter that kills, or on the Spirit that gives life? On the ministry of condemnation, or the ministration of righteousness (IMPUTED, IMPARTED, IMPLANTED) that abounds in glory?

Is my mind on the veiled face of my old, unrepentant heart, or on my un veiled face by the grace of God that continually transforms me into the same image from glory to glory?

Are my thoughts on despair because heaven’s treasures are in an earthen vessel not discerning it’s God’s design so the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us?

Do I major on the fact that I’ve lost heart because the outward man is perishing, or on the glorious fact that the inward man is renewed day by day?

Do I major on selfish living for the satisfaction of SELF, or on living no longer for yourself but for Him who died and rose again?

Are you yielded to the domination of the old man, or on the discipline of the new creation miracle of God?

Do I major on the restrictions of my affections, or on the marvelous truth that the love of God has been poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to me?

Do I major on the reality of trouble on every side, that without are conflicts and within are fears, or on the reality that nevertheless God comforts the downcast?

Do I major on the poverty of my personal soul life, or on the grace of the Lord Jesus who for my sake became poor, that I through His poverty might be made rich?

Do I major on the emptiness and void of my former life without Christ, or that in Christ by the grace of God I always have all sufficiency in all things to every good work?

Do I major on measuring myself by myself or comparing myself among others, or on the Holy Blessed Gospel that “as He is, so am I in this world”?

Do I major on the thorns that pierce my life, or on the grace that is sufficient to see me through?

Do I major on the futility of the former self with all its deeds of fleshliness, or on the fruit of the Spirit?

Is my mind on my doubts and uncertainties, or on the fact that, having believed, trusted, rested in, I’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise?

Are my thoughts on those accusations of the powers of darkness o0f my former emptiness, or on the truth of Jesus, the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

Do I major on the fall-out of having been a child of wrath, or on the fill-up of the truth that I’m a son or daughter of God now by grace through faith?

Do I major on my perplexities, conflicts, and anxieties, or on Him who is my peace?

Do I major on the heartache of living in a loveless world, or on the joy of knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge?

Do I major on my own personal ineptness in my spiritual journey, or on God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all I ask or think?

Do I major on my sadness for no greater progress in my spiritual maturity, or on the confidence that He who began the good work in me will complete it until the day of Christ?

Do I major on the failures of the past, or on forgetting the things which are behind and looking forward to those things which are before you, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?

Do I major on the temporariness of my earthly home, or on the blessed truth that my citizenship is in heaven?

Is my mind on all the sad events of my life and maybe even the multiple sorrows, or do I rejoice in the Lord always?

Am I anxious always about everything, or in everything do I pray to God and find the peace that passes all understanding?

Are my thoughts on the kingdom and powers of darkness around me, or on the holy truth that God has translated me out of that kingdom into the Kingdom of the Son of His love?

Is my life emphasis on my reaching earthly stardom for earthly glory, or on the emancipation of my soul and spirit as I discover Christ only in me as the Hope of Glory?

Do I major on the shadows of former things from the past, even in the historic events of scripture yesterday, or on the substance of Christ?

Do I major on the investment of earthly attractions, or on setting my mind on the things above?

Do I major on my inability to speak the Gospel like Moses and Jeremiah both did, or on the revelation I’ve been approved by God and entrusted with the Gospel to speak its claims – not as pleasing men but God?

Do I major on the establishment of my place in this world, or that God desires to establish my heart blameless in holiness before Him?

Do I major on my short-comings, or on the gracious fact that God counted me worthy in His Kingdom?

Do I major on my unworthiness of Heavenly Kingdom Life, or that God from the beginning chose me for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and my belief in the truth?Has my emphasis been on the reality of having made shipwreck of my faith at some point, or on the rescue of God like the restoration of Peter?

Have I majored on the mystery of iniquity, or on the mystery of godliness?

Is my mind on the earthly opposition to the Gospel that sometimes makes me feel ashamed of the testimony of our Lord (The Gospel is an offense; it does bring reproach!), or do I major on the glorious truth that He has saved me and called me with a holy calling, not according to my works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us before time began.?

Are my thoughts on what I don’t know about the things of God, or on what I do know – knowing Whom I believed and how I was persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed against that day?

Have I majored on the discouragement of having been a vessel of dishonor, or on the promise that he who cleanses himself will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful for the Master and prepared for every good work?

Do I major on the forsaking of friends and family because of my faith, or on the glorious truth that the Lord stands with me, strengthens me, and delivers me from every evil work, preserving me for His heavenly Kingdom?

Do I major on earthly blessings alone in this present age, or am I majoring on looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ?

Do I major on the hopelessness of my flesh (my old sin nature), or on the hopefulness in Christ that is an anchor to my soul, both sure and steadfast, and which does enter the veil of God’s Holy Presence?

Do I major on the prayerlessness of men in my behalf, or on pure and undefiled religion before God the Father?

Do I major on the aftermath of my old sin nature, on the fallout, on the burial clothes, from my death in trespasses and sins, or on the truth that I have been a partaker of the divine nature?

Do I major on the disappointments of lost battles in the spiritual war, or on the truth that I am of God, I have overcome, because greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world? Do I major on the fact that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, or that I am of God and have overcome the dragon through the blood of the Lamb, through the word of my own testimony, and because I truly don’t love my own life, even unto death?

Do I major on my mis-steps, or on Him who is able to keep me from stumbling and to present me faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy?

Now…I don’t fully know what all this is about, why the Lord poured these questions into me. I was reading Revelation 3 where the Lord spoke to the pastor or messenger at Sardis and in verse 2 Jesus said: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.” And I know in one sense He is saying, “You’ve not been mature in your understanding of who you are IN CHRIST!”

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Out of the passion of his soul for the church at Rome, Paul wrote: (Romans 12:2), “And do not be conformed to this world but be being transformed – BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND – that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Through Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 55), God challenged His people with “higher ways and higher thoughts.” Then He blessed them with the truth that His Word would go forth from His mouth, not returning void, but accomplishing what He pleased, prospering in the thing for which He sent it!

And because His people hear it, receive it, and walk in it: “You shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands!”

Oh, listen to Peter (I Peter 2:9,10), “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy!”

Have YOU obtained mercy? Are you the people of God? Are you His own special people? Are you a holy nation? Are you a royal priesthood? Are you the chosen race?

Listen carefully – I’m not asking you to take the name of the Lord your God in vain. But I am asking you to take His name in victory!

The word says to “confess”! That means to “agree” – to say the same thing as! A very dear and precious brother,, now departed to His heavenly home, used to lead many of us in that valid and victorious confession. Join me. Say it out loud for all to hear – even the angels of heaven and the powers of darkness. Be bold:

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! I am blessed with all spiritual blessings. I am made alive together with Christ. My nature is divine. As Jesus Christ is in this world, so am I. I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. I am born again by the Word of God. I am kept by the power of God. I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, my sins were nailed to the cross. I am complete in Christ Jesus lacking nothing. I am sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. God is my heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is my Lord. I am a new creation of His love. I have love, joy, peace, meekness, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Greater is the Lord Jesus in me than he who is in the world. I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my own testimony. I love not my life even unto death. I always triumph in Christ Jesus, my weapons are mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds. I am more than conqueror through Christ my Lord. I take the dominion and authority given to me. I rule and reign in Jesus’ name because Jesus Christ is my Lord and lives within me. I am no longer an alien nor a stranger, but God’s household and a habitation of God through the Spirit. I am a saint by His grace set apart for His glory and honor. I take authority over all the power of the enemy. I renounce all the ways of darkness and demonic powers, both in me and my family. I rebuke all sicknesses, diseases, and curses in the name, power, blood, and authority of Jesus Christ. I tear down every stronghold in my life to the glory of Jesus Christ. I bring every thought captive, in my mind, to the obedience of Jesus and the Word of God. I have the mind of Christ. Jesus is my wisdom, righteousness, redemption, and sanctification. Mighty God works through me. He confirms His Word and signs follow. I always triumph in Christ Jesus. I am delivered from every evil work and preserved by His grace for His Heavenly Kingdom! AMEN? SO BE IT, LORD!!

Our church fellowship has sang the last few Sundays a song by Big Daddy Weave entitled “Redeemed.” It says: “Seems like all I could see was the struggle, Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past, Bound up in shackles of all my failures, Wondering how long is this gonna last. Then You look at this prisoner and say to me, stop fighting a fight it’s already been won…All my life I have been called unworthy, Named by the voice of my shame and regret, But when I hear You whisper, child, lift up your head, I remember, oh God, You’re not done with me yet…I am redeemed, You set me free, So I’ll shake off these heavy chains, Wipe away every stain, yeah, I’m not who I used to be.” AMEN? AMEN!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

NO LONGER! A PROPHETIC WORD FOR A PURSUING PEOPLE

Have you ever said it at some point in your pilgrimage: “When is this going to stop? Is there an end to this trial? Is there a reprieve from the bread of adversity and the water of affliction? Is there a word of hope for the emptiness I feel or for the vainness I’ve experienced in this fleshly walk?”

What if you heard (and received) the vibrating words of eternal truth: NO LONGER, NEVER AGAIN, IT’S OVER, IT IS FINISHED!

Do you realize how the book of Revelation ends? Listen: Revelation 21:1, “no longer any sea,” or separation! Do you remember Paul’s words to the church at Corinth? (I Corinthians 13:12), “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face…” Revelation 21:4 says, “…No longer any death, sorrow, crying, pain; for the former things have passed away.” Words of tremendous encouragement and hope, but they relate to our futures! Revelation 22:3, “no longer, any curse…” But for now multitudes live under the curse; some like Job, even without a cause. Revelation 22:5, “no longer, any night…” But for now there are dark seasons of the soul and even dark sacred nights!

And you ask, “But is there a Word for now? Is there a ‘no longer’ for this day and this hour and for my soul upon which I can build my life in faith, confidence, and with much assurance?” I’m so glad to say, “There is!” Receive it, rejoice in it, stand upon it, celebrate it as you see it for yourself!

FIRST, “NO LONGER” DOES THERE HAVE TO BE A MEANINGLESS, UNFULFILLING EXISTENCE, NO LONGER A NAME WITH A HOLLOW RING, NO LONGER A CONSUMING PASSION FOR THE TEMPORAL, BUT A CONSUMING PASSION FOR WHAT GOD HAS IN STORE FOR US:

Come to Genesis 17:1-5 and see the blessings you can walk in as a child of faith, a descendant of Abraham, and an heir. Galatians 3:29 tells us, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” And Genesis 17?

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and multiply you exceedingly.’ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.’” What is it saying to me? Notice:

I have an appointment with God. HE HAS SOUGHT ME OUT!

God has called me by name. “I called…”

God has given me a promise. “All the promises of God in Christ are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’.”

God took my name and wrapped it in the love, authority, and grace of His own name! “Farrell Fisher – Son of God!”

Do you remember Saul’s words to Jesus on the Damascus Road? Acts 26:15-16 says, “Who are you, Lord?” Then Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But arise, and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose…” And our God is no respecter of persons!

You ask, “God has appeared to me?” Yes; He’s appeared to you in the authority of the Living, Life-giving, eternal Holy Scriptures! He’s appeared to you through the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Christ! He’s appeared to you through the anointed Gospel message of a preacher’s sermon or a martyr’s witness! He’s appeared to you through the passionate, intercessory prayers of loving parents! He’s appeared to you through the faithful witness, walk, and ways of a Christ-like friend!

“God has called me? He’s called me by name?” It may have been the tender, soft tap on the shoulder. It may have been a strong tug in the heart. It may have been that “mulish” 2×4 between the eyes! It may have been a Holy Ghost anointing in the fire of a burning bush! Exodus 3:4 says, “So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’”

I remind you of what Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…”

“God has given me a promise?” 2 Peter 1:2-4 says, “grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

“God took my name and wrapped it in His?” Peter talked about the “newborn babes in Christ” and said of them, (I Peter 2:9-10): “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have mercy.”

I’m no longer controlled by a meaningless, unfulfilled existence; I’m a servant of God. I no longer confess a name with a hollow ring; I’ a son, daughter of God. I’m no longer captured by the spirit of this world; I have an eternal mission in partnership with God!

ALSO, “NO LONGER” DO WE LIVE SALVING OUR CONSCIENCES WITH VAIN SUBSTITUTIONS, BUT WE’VE COME INTO THE FULL AWARENESS AND FULL ASSURANCE THROUGH OUR VICTORIOUS SUBSTITUTE, JESUS CHRIST. The New American Standard version of Leviticus 17:7 says, “And they shall NO LONGER sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they played the harlot.”

Did you hear that word? Sacrifices, sacrifices to goat demons, spiritual harlotry! It’s the “golden calf” mentality of even modern-day American spirituality; any old or new calf will do as long as you’re sincere. The end justifies the means! So they bow before the trees, bow before their bank accounts, bow before their sex and drugs, bow before the god of self-will worshipping their “rights”, bow before the false gods of men’s own makings, bow before and celeb rate their church’s advance at the high price of abandonment of the Gospel on which Paul was not ashamed, forfeiting “repentance toward God and faith in Christ alone” for a “feel-good” philosophy that has nothing to do with the proclamation of Christ’s Gospel of “demands” to true discipleship! (Read carefully Luke 14:25-35!!)

I Kings 14:25-27 tells us of the time period of King Rehoboam and the tragedy of vain substitutions, “It happened that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields that Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house.”

Do you realize how many people like Rehoboam come to a place where “gold” no longer matters; they can get by with “brass”. Consider it!

2 Kings 18:1-7 is just as powerful with its message for us today. Hezekiah had begun his reign at 25 years of age. The Word says in verse 3, “And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.” Please, please notice verse 4 and the first part of verse 5: “He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden images, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it “Nehushtan” (meaning “just a bronze thing”)…He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.”

What have you put your trust in? “Bronze things” or the blessed truth of the Indwelling Christ?

What is it for you? Vain substitutions or the Victorious Savior?

What does your life of “faith” reveal? Spiritual harlotry or spiritual Health?

Where’s your faith placed? Your sacrifices to ‘goat demons’ or in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God?

I Peter 1:17-21 says: “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

“NO LONGER” DO WE LIVE WITH THE SADNESS OF UNFULFILLED DESIRES AND UNANSWERED PRAYERS.

In I Samuel, Hannah, that godly wife and devoted servant of God, longed for a child. She faithfully year by year went up to the house of the Lord and cried out unto God. She was so passionate, in such bitterness of soul, praying and weeping in anguish, that Eli the priest thought she was drunk! But he learned differently; she was drunk in the Spirit!

Look at I Samuel 1:15-18: “But Hannah answered and said, ‘No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.’ Then Eli answered and said, ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.’ And she said, ‘Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.’ So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”

In Jeremiah 33:3 God has promised, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

What did Jesus promise? John 15:17, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.”

God longs for a praying heart and has assured us, Psalm 91:15, “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer…” In fact, in Isaiah 65:24, God says, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”

Moses cried to the Lord because of a thirsty, murmuring people – and God showed him a tree that transforms the bitter to the sweet!

Gideon called out to God once more for dry fleece and wet ground and the Bible says, “God did so that night.”

We just read of Hanna who prayed for a child and God heard her petition.

Elijah stood on Mt. Carmel (I Kings 18:37). “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back again…Then the fire of the Lord fell…! How we need that fire today!

The angel said to Zacharias, Luke 1:13, “Fear not, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…”Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.” No longer unfulfilled desires and unanswered prayers! But also…..

“NO LONGER” WILL A DEATHLY SPIRIT HOVER OVER YOU AND NO LONGER WILL YOU EXPERIENCE A BARREN, UNFRUITFUL LIFE.

What a powerful, life-changing, word of faith and victory is found in 2 Kings 2:19-21! It says, “Then the men of the city said to Elisha, ‘Please notice, the situation of the city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.’ And he said, ‘Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water, from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’”

Do you remember Job in the height of his personal and family distress? His wife had said to him, “Do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God and die.” In Job 14:14 he asks, “If a man dies, shall he live again?”

Do you realize how many people fight the mental wars in the situations of their lives? “…The water is bad, and the ground barren…”

Do you realize how many people fight with the mind games in the situations of their marriage and family shortcomings? “…The water is bad, and the ground barren…”

Do you realize how many people fight intellectually with doubts and fears because of the sad situations they’ve settled into? “…The water is bad, and the ground barren…”

WELL, IT’S OVER!! The Salt of God’s faithful Word is being poured into your situation!

It’s over! The Salt of living promises is being poured into your circumstances!

It’s over! The Salt of healing grace is being poured onto the open wounds of your deathliness and barrenness! “By His stripes you are being healed! No more death! No more barrenness!

I’ll never forget a Sunday morning in our fellowship in Belton, Texas, about 18 years ago. I had preached the message, was ready to dismiss the service, but God moved on my heart with ‘a word of knowledge.’ I said, “I don’t know exactly why I am saying this this morning since our fellowship is blessed abundantly with the spirit of fertility, but if there is anyone who hasn’t been able to conceive and you want a baby, God says I’m to pray for you right now.” And a young married lady with her mother had decided to come to her mother’s church this particular Sunday. She began to cry openly and said, “My husband and I have tried for a baby for seven years unsuccessfully.” We surrounded her, laid hands on her, and prayed for God to open her womb. In less than two months, we received the news that she was pregnant, and later she came with her baby son and we dedicated him to the Lord! No more barrenness! No more death!

My next door neighbor in Belton, Texas, was Doug Wood, former Baptist pastor and counselor. Doug was truly a modern-day Job. When he was in high school in Dumas, Texas, he had broken both of his ankles and was in casts. Just two months before his family moved into a brand new home. They were not Christians (in fact, his stepfather was very hostile to anything that had to do with Christianity). Earlier, when he was 12 years of age, he had turned on the television, flipped to a channel, and saw a man laying hands on another man, saying, “Jesus loves you and wants you well.” But his stepfather came in and angrily turned off the television with the words, “Never allow that stuff on my television.” Two months in his new home, suddenly there was a gas explosion, then another, then another. Doug shared that he watched as parts of him blew away or burned off. He was burned so badly that they told his parents they would not move him to the burn unit because he wouldn’t live through the night. He didn’t know Jesus at all, but he shared that he knew Jesus was with him. He lived, and two years later came to salvation in Christ. He ended up with approximately 100 skin, nerve, muscle, and bone graft operations. The medications that followed over the years impacted him in odd ways, sometimes paralysis, and another time produced tumors in his chest to the point he had to have a double mastectomy!

Twenty years later, after coming home from a hospital confinement that had lasted about three months, his neighbor who had just purchased a new motor home said, “Doug, I want to drive you to your next speaking engagement.” It was a blizzard. The man turned the motor home over, and just about every rib in Doug’s body was broken or crushed. It was about a year and a half recovery time!

On another occasion, he was approached by the CIA or FBI or both and asked to join a secret unit of deliverance ministers that traveled the world setting armed forces free from the bondage to the powers of darkness. He told them he needed to pray although in his heart he felt this was where the Lord was leading. The next morning as he arose with the commitment in his heart to accept the offer, the Lord spoke to him. “The powers of darkness will try to kill you today, but you will survive.” Hours later, he was completely paralyzed and remained that way for one full year. On the day the paralysis struck, he died twice and had to be revived.

I was his neighbor for over eight years. I watched him battle horrible migraines. On one occasion after returning home from a vacation, Sue and I both felt I should check on Doug. And as I walked through my garage toward his house, the Lord said, “This is not physical, it’s demonic.” When I knocked on the door, I waited, then Doug opened it having crawled to the door. And he said, “Oh, I’m so glad to see you. The Lord just said this migraine is demonic and not physical and you’re to cast it off me.” I did as God instructed and God did as He is able!

August 1998, Doug, as chaplain for the Bell County Sheriff’s Department, received a call because of the drowning of a soldier at Lake Belton. He hurried in his Mazda pickup toward the lake, but as he was going through a green traffic light, a lady driving a Suburban and drinking, pulled out in front of Doug. He hit her very hard and after his truck stopped he ended up on the pavement with his sternum fractured and every rib on one side crushed into pieces. His knee was injured. His elbow was injured. He was placed in intensive care. On Sunday after church, I was on my way to visit him in the hospital. That Sunday morning I had preached “No Longer” in the church fellowship I helped pastor when I was in the States. The Lord said, “That message this morning was for Doug Wood, and when you see him, tell him I am sovereign and NO LONGER will the death spirit hover over him. I appoint his time of death – not the powers of darkness.” And when I saw him, I told him, we cried, and then I prayed that covering of grace over his life.

Six weeks later, Doug was on his way to town. He was stopped at a stop sign in heavy rain. A teenager driving a pickup truck too fast in the rain tried to turn the corner where Doug was sitting full speed and slid into him, totaling his wife’s car, but for Doug? Not a scratch!

I would be amiss not to tell you that that fire Doug was burned so badly in?

Lived in the new home two months? His step-father and mother set it on fire for insurance not knowing Doug hadn’t gone to school that day and stayed home. He found this out shortly before Sue and I had to move to Bedford, Texas. His mother confessed to him, asking his forgiveness after 40 years (?). No longer! Nehemiah 2:17-18 says: “Then I said to them, ‘You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.’ And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also spoke of the king’s words that he had spoken to me.”

Through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 65:17-19), God says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.”

Do you hear what God is saying to you? “You may have experienced seven years of famine, but now, get ready, for there are seven years of rich prosperity coming.” NO LONGER! “You may have experienced seven years of ordinariness in your life, but now, on the authority of My Word, get ready, for there are seven years of extraordinary works of divine grace and mercy coming your way.” No Longer! “You’ve known the chewing, swarming, crawling, consuming locust, but I say, ‘I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten; you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you today!” No longer!

Absorb in your heart your confidence in God as you read Zephaniah 3:14-17. It’s for you! “Sin, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall see disaster no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: ‘Do not fear; Zion, let your hands not be weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.’”

“NO LONGER” WILL YOU BE LOOKED UPON AS ONE FORSAKEN OR AS ONE LEFT DESOLATE, BUT NOW YOU’RE KNOWN AS ONE DEEPLY LOVED AND FOREVER “MARRIED”.

Come with me to Isaiah 62:4-12. Read it all carefully, but notice specifically, “You shall no longer be termed ‘forsaken,’ nor shall your land any more be termed ‘desolate.’” And then verse 12 says, “And they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called “sought out,” a city not forsaken.” Hallelujah!

Do you remember the heart-wrenching words of the man in Psalm 142:4? “No man cared for my soul!” It’s the ego battles! It’s the frontlines of war as to one’s identity, worth, or value. Do you realize that around you are people who are saying, “I wish I had never been born”?

How many people do you know who’ve turned inward on themselves and with much hostility have lived under the cloud of self-condemnation? They’ve lived controlled by mental and emotional aberrations.

Oh, the sad number of those who live with feelings of worthlessness, so they build prison walls thick and strong around them to isolate themselves against the risk of being loved.

I want you to look at several verses that will regenerate, revolutionize or revive your life and lost hope about yourself. Take not!

Psalm 40:17, “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me…!” YOU are on the mind and heart of God. Put your name by that verse!

Psalm 56:9, “When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me!” Put your name here!

In Ephesians 1:3-6 the apostle Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED!” Did you see it? Accepted in the Beloved! Put YOUR name there!

In Colossians 2:9-10 we read, “For in Him (Christ Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Put your name THERE! Paul says, “Complete!” Lenski in his book on Colossians says, “The periphrastic perfect has the strongest present connotation: ‘You have been made full, are so now, and continue so.’ The passage implies that God made you complete ‘in connection with Christ.’”

To the person who has been dominated by feelings ‘nobody cares,’ what does it matter when you know “God cares!” Deuteronomy 32:9-12 says, “For the Lord’s portion is His people…He found [Farrell Fisher] in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled [Farrell Fisher], He instructed [Farrell Fisher], He kept [Farrell Fisher] as the apple of His eye…as an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings…so the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.” Hallelujah! PUT YOUR NAME THERE!

I Peter 5:7 says, “cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Listen:

*The world may forsake you, but God has found you!

*The family may reject you, but God receives you!

*The friends may abandon you, but God has adopted you! God cares!

“NO LONGER” WILL YOU BE GOVERNED BY FEAR, BUT GRACED AND GALVINIZED BY A LIVING FAITH.

Hear it, O fearful one, afraid of your own shadow! Jeremiah 23:4 says, “I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall “no longer fear, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord!

In the mid-1960’s I was pastoring in Tucson, Arizona. The music leader at our church was the herdsman for the University of Arizona Experimental Farm. My, how he loved his animals! One night Sue and I went over for a visit but Carnie was not home. He was out in the barn with a gun to protect his prize sheep from the coyotes. Dawn, his wife, said, “He’ll stay out there as many nights as it takes to defend his sheep.” Can I say, “A greater than Carnie is here for you”? It’s Mighty God, your Defender, and you don’t have to be afraid!

In Genesis 15:1 we read, “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I AM YOUR SHIELD, your exceedingly great reward.’”

Do you remember King David’s testimony? In Psalm 27:1 he said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

God says: “The fear of failure is over!”

God says: “The fear of earthly or demonic foes is over!”

God says: “The fear of rejection or aloneness is over!”

God says: “The fear of death is over!”

Lidie H. Edmunds wrote the words to the great old hymn, “My Faith Has Found A Resting Place.” Read it faithfully:

“My faith has found a resting place, not in device or creed; I trust the Ever-living One, His wounds for me shall plead…

Enough for me that Jesus saves, this ends my fear and doubt; a sinful soul I come to Him, he’ll never cast me out…

I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me.”

“NO LONGER” WILL YOU BE CONFUSED AND SIDE-TRACKED BY VAIN VISIONS AND FLATTERING DIVINATIONS, BUT CEMENTED IN SOUND DOCTRINES AND AFFIRMING TRUTHS.

In Ezekial 12:23-24 the word of the Lord enlightens and encourages us, saying, “The days draw near as well as the fulfillment of every vision…For there will NO LONGER be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel.”

Paul challenged the church at Galatia (Galatians 3:1), “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”

The Amplified Version says it like this, “O, you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you…?” No, that’s not God’s desire for you!

In Ephesians 4:14-15, Paul said, “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.”

Our loving Father is saying, “No longer do you have to be subjects to false prophets, false teachers, false doctrines, false visions. It’s over!”

How? Hunger and thirst after righteousness and you shall be filled!

How? 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved of God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

How? Psalm 119:72, because, “The law of God’s mouth is better to me than thousands of shekels of gold and silver.” How? Ephesians 6:14, because, “I’ve stood and girded my waist with TRUTH (not error), with TRUTH (not a lying spirit), with TRUTH (Not a deceitful prophet!). (Study Jeremiah 23:16-18, 25-30, 4:3-7, and also 2 Timothy 1:12-14, 2:2,7, 14-19, please.).

“NO LONGER” WILL YOU BE CALLED SLAVES BUT FRIENDS OF GOD. In the Amplified Version, John 15:15 says, “I do not call you slaves any longer, for the slave does not know what his master is doing or working out. But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father – I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.”

In James 2:23 it says of Abraham (And potentially of you), “And the scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.” Does God just have a few special friends? Remember, God is no respecter of persons. He desires that you be His friend!

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “We force no doors in friendship (Can I say, neither does God!), but like the Christ in Revelation, we stand reverently at the door without, to knock. And only if the door be opened from within, may we welcome in to sup with our friend and he with us. The glory of Friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with friendship.”

I Thessalonians 2:4 says, “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel…” In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 Paul says, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

LAST OF ALL, “NO LONGER” ARE YOU A SLAVE TO SIN BUT A SERVANT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Sometimes I fear and tremble with the realization that too many “teachers” are “dumbing discipleship downward” and lowering the standard of our high and holy calling. I tremble when I hear someone say, “I’m just an old sinner saved by grace.” I want to shout it: “We’re not sinners; if we’re saved by grace, we’re saints!”

Look with me prayerfully at Romans 6:6-9, 12, 14, 17-18, 22:

Romans 6:6-9, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we “no longer” be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”

Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”

Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Romans 6:17-18, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Romans 6:22, “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

To the church at Corinth (2 Corinthians 5:15), Paul wrote: “And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”John, the beloved disciple, also held high the bar of true discipleship when he wrote in I John 3:4-10, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

YOU CAN BE FREE OF SLAVERY TO SIN – TRUST THE WORD!

YOU CAN BE FREE FROM THE PATTERN OF SIN – OBEY THE WORD! “TRUST AND OBEY!”

Charles Spurgeon, in his book, “The Soul Winner,” has written (p.31): “We are not to hold up a modified holiness before our people and say, ‘You will be all right if you reach that standard’. The Scripture says, ‘He that commits sin is of the devil (I John 3:8).’ Abiding under the power of any known sin is a mark of our being the servants of sin, for ‘his servants you are to whom you obey (Romans 6:16)’…Idle are the boasts of a man who harbors within himself the love of any transgression. He may feel what he likes and believe what he likes, but he is still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity while a single sin rules his heart and life. True regeneration implants a hatred of all evil. Where our sin is delighted in, the evidence is fatal to a sound hope. A man need not take a dozen poisons to destroy his life; one is quite sufficient.”

Is it “Defeat In Jesus” or “Victory In Jesus”?

Is it “Manipulated by the old sin nature” or “More than conquerors in Christ”?

Is it “falling short” or “It is Finished”?

Is it “Under the power of sin” Or “Led by His Holy Spirit”?

Is it the “law of sin and death” or “The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”?

Is it “sown to the flesh, reaping corruption” or is it “sown to the Spirit, reaping everlasting life”?

Is it “leaven” or “liberty”?

Is it “the blood helps some” or is it “the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin”?

Is it “sin masters me even though I believe” or “sin shall have no dominion over you”?

Is it “slave of sin” or “servant of righteousness”?

It’s “NO LONGER!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

CLAIMING YOUR MOUNTAIN

Too many Christians are so “other-world” oriented, they never plant their feet in the task at hand. Others live in what they call “the deep things,” so deeply buried that they never learn to live in what God has already shown them about the “here and now.” Some live in the realm of “ecstasies,” in a mystical cloud, even seeking to know more than what God has already shown them, but surround their lives with what it takes to live in what they have already envisioned for themselves – for them His vision and dream for them seems too small of a calling and they get depressed.

Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest” (Barbour & Co. p.206, 1963), put it like this: ‘ The little ‘I am’ always sulks when God says ‘Do.’ Let the little ‘I am’ be shriveled up in God’s indignation – “I Am That I Am has sent you.’ He must dominate.” What dominates you?

Are you dominated by fleshly drives? Are you dominated by the depraved desires of a world culture? Are you dominated by what’s good rather than what’s best? Are you dominated by the “frame-up” of temporary living or that which is eternal? Are you dominated by self or by God? Are you dominated by ‘your’ visions and dreams or The Vision of The Almighty?

When God has given you His vision, nothing else matters. When God has unveiled His plan for your life, anything else becomes total dissatisfaction. When God pulled back the curtain and shows heaven’s plans for an earthly disciple, anything but what He reveals becomes life on a lower level. And if we lose sight of what He has shown us or allow anything to capture us but His good, acceptable, and perfect will, all of a sudden we find ourselves in darkness, living the self-inflicted limited life rather than living with the Limitless One in limitless boundaries. We can touch heaven and “Claim Our Mountain.”

I’m sure you know the background of Caleb’s life. Joshua and Caleb were two of the twelve whom God had sent to “spy out” the Promised Land. Ten came back with bad reports, but these two precious servants had seen and held onto what God had promised. It’s an amazing story. Come with me to Joshua 14. In Proverbs 29:18 God had said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish!”

Caleb didn’t perish, he prospered. This holy man of God didn’t fall short, he entered in. This persistent, persevering disciple didn’t set his sight short, he saw and kept on seeing what God had promised. How do YOU claim your mountain?

“CLAIMING OUR MOUNTAIN DEPENDS UPON STANDING ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE SPOKEN WORD OF GOD!”

Look at Joshua 14:6, “…And Caleb said, ‘You know the WORD which the Lord said to Moses the man of God CONCERNING YOU AND ME in Kadesh Barnea.”

Several questions we must answer and settle in our hearts right now! Are the Holy Scriptures God’s personal Word to me? Is the Bible the overflow of the heart of God telling me how much He cares for me?

Does it confirm for my life the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God? With David, Psalm 119:89, can I say, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven? And I must ask, ‘Settled for me?’

I have no desire in my heart to see any disciple of Christ try to live an overcoming, victorious life apart from the Word of God. When Jesus was confronted by Satan, He said, Matthew 4:4, “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” You are of the ‘mankind’ variety!

In Ezekial 1:1,3, God unveiled for us how He was able to use Ezekial. It says, “…the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God…” With the inspiration and revelation of the Holy Word of God, heaven’s doors have been opened wide to you! Verse 3 says, “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekial the priest… and the hand of the Lord was upon him there…” There? The hand of the Lord was upon him, where? By the River or in the Word of the Lord?

I Samuel 3:1 tells us about “the boy Samuel…ministering to the Lord before Eli.” The New American Standard translation finishes the first verse saying, “And word from the Lord was rare in those days; visions were infrequent.” And, when in your daily walk you seldom visit the Word of the Lord, infrequently and rarely go to hear His voice, visions will be infrequent for you!

It is the promise of God through the pouring out of His Holy Spirit, Joel 2:28, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.”

After Jesus’ resurrection and right before His ascension, in Luke 24:44-45, Jesus said to the disciples (and to us), “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”

Have you discovered as yet what has been written “concerning you” that is to be fulfilled in God’s timing? Some haven’t seen it as yet because the lingering effect of a veil over them for far too long has had an adverse impact on their spiritual vision. But listen to Isaiah 25:7, “And God will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” I’m telling you, Christ rent the veil in two! The covering over all people has been cast aside. You can see “concerning you”!

Jesus said in John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and life!” How many disciples do you know who are living like Caleb, standing on the authority of the Word of God unveiling and holding on to the vision God has revealed for them? Charles Spurgeon once said (Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol. 15, p.184):

“We often wonder that the disciples put such poor meanings upon our Lord’s words, but I fear we are almost as far off as they were from fully comprehending all His gracious teachings. Are we not still as little children, making little out of great words? Have we grasped as yet a tithe of our Lord’s full meaning, in many of His sayings of love? When He is talking of bright and sparkling gems of benediction, we are thinking of common pebble-stones in the brook of mercy; when He speaks of stars and heavenly crowns, we think of sparks and childish coronals of fading flowers. Oh, that we could have our intellect cleared; better still, could have our understanding expanded, or, best of all, our faith increased…” It may not be our intellect that needs clearing, but our hearts! Search and stand on the Word of God with an open heart! Which brings us to the second foundation stone of Caleb’s vital faith:

CLAIMING OUR MOUNTAIN DEPENDS UPON THE BENT OF OUR HEART!

Look at Joshua 14:7. Caleb says, “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him AS IT WAS IN MY HEART.”

The writer of Hebrews challenges us, Hebrews 3:7-8, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, if you will hear His voice…do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness…’” Do you realize how important the bent of your heart is in claiming your mountain?

God told Samuel that men look on outward appearance but that God looks at the heart. What does He see when He looks at our hearts?

2 Chronicles 16:9 is one of the most encouraging, powerful, life-changing verses in all of God’s Word. It says: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” Have the eyes of the Lord seen a loyal heart in you, and has His mighty arm reached down in your behalf?

Psalm 119:10 says, “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!”

I grew up on an old hymn that says, “True-hearted, whole-hearted, faithful and true…!” In Deuteronomy 5:29 God says, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!”It was well with Caleb because his heart was wedded to God, His Word, His promises!

CLAIMING OUR MOUNTASIN DEPENDS UPON US FOLLOWING FULLY.

Look at Joshua 14:8, “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.”

The Gospel of the Living God, the Eternal Gospel, the Gospel of Christ has never changed. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said, “If anyone [do you?] desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines “follow” as : to go after, to pursue, to accompany, to attend in a journey, to imitate, to copy, to embrace, to obey, to observe, to practice, to act in conformity to, to adhere to, to side with, to move on in the same course or direction…”

In John 10;4 Jesus is talking about the True Shepherd and His sheep. He said of His sheep, “And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” Question! Do you know the voice of the True Shepherd and are you following that voice?

In Ezekial 13:3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekial, saying, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” With all my heart, I believe that too many “disciples” are visionless because they also follow “their own spirit” rather than being led by the Holy Spirit of God! It’s why Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus and us in this day. Ephesians 1:18-19 says that “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe…”

Revelation 14, in the early verses, talks about the “redeemed.” And verse 4 says of the redeemed, “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” That was the spirit of Caleb that kept him on the path of his mountain appropriation.

CLAIMING OUR MOUNTAIN DEPENDS UPON OUR STANDING ON THE PROMISES.

Joshua 14:9 says, “So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever…”

We all need to be reminded of 2 Corinthians 1:20 as Paul said, “For all the promises of God in [CHRIST] are Yes, and in [CHRIST] Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

Romans 4:17-21 is such an illuminating word for “mountain-seekers.” The truth is that God IS the same yesterday, today, and forever. And look at what happened in Abraham’s walk of faith, “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was able also to perform.”

It was a promise Caleb stood upon and claimed his mountain!

CLAIMING OUR MOUNTAIN DEPENDS UPON OUR STANDING IN THE TEST OF GOD’S TIMING.

How exciting Joshua 14:10 is! It says, “And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these 45 years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, 85 years old.”

When was the promise given to Caleb? At the age of forty. How old is he when the promise is fulfilled? Eighty-five years of age! For forty-five years Caleb stood upon the promise! He never turned aside; he never doubted; he aimed, held onto, and received what God had promised him! I don’t know what all was involved in Caleb’s wilderness wanderings with Israel, but I doubt it was very comfortable or like at “ease in Zion.” But he never lost sight. He held on!

Charles Swindoll, in his book, “Hand Me Another Brick” (Bantam Book, May 1981, p.146), told the story of Ludwig van Beethoven. He said, “The life of Ludwig van Beethoven, although one of great ecstasy, was also checkered with sporadic agony. By the age of five, Beethoven was playing the violin under the tutelage of his father – also an accomplished musician. By the time he was 13, Beethoven was a concert organist. In his twenties he was already studying under the watchful eyes of Haydn and Mozart. In fact, Mozart spoke prophetic words when he declared that Beethoven would give the world something worth listening by the time his life ended…

“As Beethoven began to develop his skills, he became a prolific composer. During his lifetime, he wrote nine majestic symphonies and five concertos for piano, not to mention numerous pieces for chamber music. He has thrilled us with the masterful works of unique harmony that broke with the traditions of his times. The man was a genius…

“Beethoven was not, however, a stranger to difficulties. During his twenties, he began to lose his hearing. His fingers ‘became thick’ he said on one occasion. He couldn’t ‘feel’ the music as he once had. His hearing problem haunted him in the middle years of his life, but he kept it a well-guarded secret. When he reached his fifties, Beethoven was stone deaf. Three years later he made a tragic attempt to conduct an orchestra and failed miserably. Approximately five years later, he died during a fierce thunderstorm…

“He was deaf, yet a magnificent musician. On one occasion, Beethoven was overheard shouting at the top of his voice as he slammed both fists on the keyboard, “I will take life by the throat!” He had determined not to give in. Many of his biographers feel that because of his great determination, Beethoven remained far more productive than he otherwise would have been. Indeed, he took life by the throat.”

It wasn’t ‘life’ Caleb took by the throat, but a promise of God. In closing out his thoughts on Beethoven, Swindoll quoted Romans 15:4, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Have you discovered God’s promise for your life and are you patiently holding on to the hope in the sea of His comfort?

CLAIMING OUR MOUNTAIN DEPENDS UPON US LIVING IN THE UNDYING STRENGTH OF OUR LORD!

Joshua 14:11 says of Caleb, “As yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me: just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, for both going out and coming in.”

King David understood living victoriously through the “Life of Another.” In Psalm 84:5-7 he wrote, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”

Notice, who is “the blessed man”? It’s the man who lives in the strength of the Lord, and he does so because his heart is set on pilgrimage and he knows without God he cannot make it. But with God, all things are possible. It’s so difficult for the macho man and the headstrong feminist to ever learn the victory of “weakness.” Paul put it like this in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Last of all,

CLAIMING OUR MOUNTAIN DEPENDS UPON THE STAKING OF OUR CLAIM!

Joshua 14:12 says simply, “Now…Now…Now…Therefore (because of everything that’s gone on before!), give me this mountain!”

And verse 13 says, “And Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb…” What is it that Jesus needs to do to bless you today? What are you standing on? What have you claimed from the promises of God? What is your vision? What are you holding onto as revealed by the Word and will of God for you, your family, or your fellowship?

Our Lord’s promises are sure, certain, filled with blessing, abundant in their anointing, and radiating Holy Presence in us! Step up, step out…claim your mountain!

CHAPTER 13

EXPANDING VISIONS AND HORIZONS

How rich is the Word of God! Yet many live in a spiritual state of poverty because they do not feed themselves on the riches of His grace as revealed in His Word. Several verses to lay a good foundation:

Psalm 31:8b, “…You have set my feet in a wide place…”

Psalm 18:19, “He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.”

Isaiah 54:2-3, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, and strength your stakes…For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.”

I Chronicles 4:10, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him what he requested.”

Ephesians 3:17-19, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love…may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -…to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God…”

Psalm 118:5, “I called on the Lord in distress; The Lord answered me and SET ME IN A BROAD PLACE.”

Has it ever dawned upon you as to the vastness of the bigness of our world setting with all its universes?

For most of us we all grew up with limited visions of our little corner of the world never seeing or sensing what all was ‘out there.’ For some of us we readily wanted to stay in and hold onto our childish perceptions; some of us basked in our woeful ignorance; and some of us majored on mistaken misinterpretations of our big world.

Then, one day it’s “man on the moon.” Another day it’s that miracle of organ transplants. Here’s the Concorde, breakfast in London, lunch in New York City.

Have you seen now the bullets that will turn a corner?

Always to those of youthful visions our world is such measurement of infinite distances so beyond our comprehension.

To a little boy a small number of trees equals a vast forest, water in a ditch is like a huge lake, and one little city block is an advance into the unknown world.

And then, we come to God’s Word, and we hear: “You, God, have set my feet in a WIDE PLACE…” We’ve often been so hindered in the world of spiritual adventure because we’ve been so narrowed!! “You, God, brought me into a broad place” granting deliverance from my LIMITED VISION!! I never knew about enlarging and stretching and lengthening and strengthening and expanding – I bought in to “be content with what you are”, never realizing God had a “much more” in mind for me!

It’s time to call on God like Jabez and see if our Lord has something else in mind for us that we’ve failed to discover. What did I Chronicles 4:10 say? “Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him what he requested.”

WE NEED AN EXPANDING VISION AND HORIZON AS TO THE ABILITY OF OUR GOD!

Do you remember Genesis 18:13-14 after Abraham told Sarah that God had revealed they were going to have a child in their old age? Listen: “And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?…Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’”

In the New Testament, an angel appeared to Mary and told her she would conceive and bear a Son and call His name Jesus! Remember Mary’s response? Luke 1:34, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel responded, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Then the angel told Mary of Elizabeth bearing a son in her old age and said in verse 37, “FOR WITH GOD NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE.”

In I Chronicles 29, before the assembly of God’s people, David blessed the Lord and said, verses 11-12, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory, and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, for you are exalted as head over all…Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is POWER AND MIGHT; in Your hand IT IS TO MAKE GREAT AND TO GIVE STRENGTH TO ALL.”

With all my heart I believe God is waiting on a man, waiting on a church, waiting on a nation that will expand its vision or horizon and lay hold on where God wants to take them AND IS ABLE TO TAKE THEM!!

Daniel 3:17 says, “our God whom we serve IS ABLE TO DELIVER…From the fiery furnace(s) we find ourselves in!!”

Luke 3:8 says, “…God is able of (these) stones TO RAISE UP CHILDREN UNTO ABRAHAM.”

In Romans 4:21 we read, “And being fully persuaded that, what God has promised, HE IS ABLE ALSO TO PERFORM.”

2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “…God is able to make ALL GRACE ABOUND TOWARD YOU…”

To the church at Ephesus, Paul wrote: (Ephesians 3:20), God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” To the church at Philippi he wrote, (Philippians 3:21), “…God is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.”

In Hebrews 7:25 the author wrote: “…[God] is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him…”

And in Jude 24 we read: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

Did you catch all that? Do you receive it? In your little corner of the world you don’t believe God is able to EXPAND YOUR VISION AND HORIZON?

Isaiah 43:26 says, God speaking, “Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together…” Do you know what God is saying? “Remind Me of what I’ve promised you!!”

“In Your hand, God, is power and might; in Your hand is to make great and give strength to all; You’re able to raise up children of faith out of hard, stony hearts; What You’ve promised me, YOU’RE ABLE TO DO; every situation will be subdued unto Your glory and honor; You’ll keep me from falling; You’re going to present me faultless with great joy; You’re going to do even exceedingly abundantly above all I ask or think!!”

This ‘broad place’ is surrounded by the sense of the infinite! This broad place is submerged in the swelling tide of the Almighty! This broad place is a spacious universe of Divine Ability! This broad place is an on-going symphony of praise unto the God with whom nothing is impossible!

Isaac Watts wrote it: “I sing the mighty power of God, That made the mountains rise; That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies; I sing the wisdom that ordained The sun to rule the day; The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey.”

Do YOU sing the mighty power of God and soar into the heavenlies?

WE NEED AN EXPANDING VISION AND HORIZON AS TO THE AWESOMENESS OF A LIVING FAITH.

In Matthew 17, a man came to Jesus and told Him that he’d brought his demonized son to Jesus’ disciples and that they could not cure him. Jesus’ response? Verse 17, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

After Jesus cast the demon out, the disciples asked him, “Why could we not cast it out?” Verse 20, So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, IF YOU HAVE FAITH AS A MUSTARD SEED, you will say to this mountain, ‘MOVE from here to there,’ and it will move; and NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO YOU.”

There’s an interesting verse in Isaiah 28:20. It says: “For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.”

Do you know what is too narrow or too short to stretch yourself out on? It’s that LIFE OF UNBELIEF! The walk of unbelief cramps you and keeps you COLD, but the walk of faith covers you and keeps you warm!

Is your life covered or uncovered? The bed that you’ve made for yourself is it too narrow, too short, or do you rest on the bed of faith? Come to Deuteronomy 32:15-20:

“But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation…They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger…They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear…Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you…And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters…And He said, ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, children in whom is NO FAITH.”

Do you remember the lame man healed at the gate of the Temple as Peter and John ministered to him? The religious folk marveled at this and didn’t know nor could understand how it happened. Acts 3:16, Peter responding, said: “And His name, THROUGH FAITH IN HIS NAME, has made this man strong…”

Remember the paralytic carried by four men in Mark 2? They even uncovered the roof where Jesus was and let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. And Mark 2:5 says, “When Jesus SAW THEIR FAITH, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’”

Hebrews 6:12 says, “that you do not become sluggish (or lazy), but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Are YOU inheriting the promises? Are you in faith standing on the promises? Are you in faith moving mountains? Are you blessed beyond belief laying hold of Big God? Are you in faith being made whole? Are you seen as a man of great faith? Are you walking with a heart purified by faith?

Are you strong in faith giving glory to God because of a faithful life? Are you part of the faithful whose faith is not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God? Are you surrounded by the shield of faith?

Is your faith toward God spread abroad? Is your faith growing exceedingly? Are you finishing the course and keeping the faith? Are you drawing near to God with a true heart in the full assurance of faith? I John 5:4, “…And this is the VICTORY that has overcome the world – OUR FAITH.” Do you understand the awesomeness of a living faith?

Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,” and when your FAITH STANDS ON THE WORD OF GOD, listen!!! Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Are you prospering, expanding, enlarging your vision and horizon because of the awesomeness of your living faith?

WE NEED AN EXPANDING VISION AND HORIZON AS TO OUR AREAS OF SERVICE UNTO GOD. Listen to Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

“You have set my feet in a wide place…”

“He also brought me out into a broad place…” He’s called upon ME to “enlarge the place of [my] tent, [to] stretch out the curtains of my dwellings, [to] lengthen [my] cords, strengthen [my] stakes, [to] expand to the right and to the left.” Do you understand what God’s Word is telling us?

Disciples of Jesus are not those confined in a small place suffering from cabin fever – they are the ones who’ve entered the gate of holy calling and soar with Christ in heavenly places…

And though they may live in a small town, an insignificant village, they are consumed with the spirit of global-mindedness! Since God loves the WORLD, SO DO WE!

Disciples of Jesus live in the breadth of an international scope with Abraham desiring to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth!

Disciples of Jesus have been lifted to the mountain-tops to see the vast visions of WORLD VISION of the perishing peoples in the world populace!

Disciples of Jesus don’t live on the shores of “Lake Contentment” – we live by “THE OCEAN OF OPPORTUNITY” to touch our world with grace.

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)

Daniel 12:3 says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

Are you a “wise” disciple? Are you turning ANY to righteousness? Are you a “star” hung up in God’s spiritual galaxy, hung there forever and ever because you did expand your vision and upheld that horizon of “witness” forever and ever?

Listen to Swindoll, “Come Before Winter,” (P.208), “Every so often it’s helpful to stop the annual merry-go-round, get off, look objectively, and think clearly. It’s not only helpful, it’s ESSENTIAL for the Christian. In this circus-like American lifestyle of ours, we tend to be deafened by the blare of our own band and blinded by the lights of our own spots, shining – always shining – on the ring of our choice…That needs to change. We need the hear the voice of the Ringmaster as He raises His hand to stop the band: “We interrupt this program to bring all of you a reminder that the world in which you live is not the whole world…but only a very small part of the world for which I died.” Then Swindoll said:

“The Great Commission is still “The Great Commission,” not “The Limited Agreement for My Corner of America.” He Jesus still looks out across a wide world and weeps over men and women and children who do not know – have never heard – His healing, life-giving Name.”

Dr. Joseph Clark paraphrased I Corinthians 13!! [“Today’s Evangelism,” by Ernie Reisinger, Phillipsburg, NJ; Craig Press, 1982, pps. 142-143],

“Tho’ I speak with the tongues of scholarship, and though I use approved methods of education, and fail to win others to Christ, or to build them up in Christian character, I AM BECOME AS THE MOAN OF THE WIND OF A SYRIAN DESERT…And tho’ I have the best methods and understand all mysteries of religious psychology, and tho’ I have all biblical knowledge, and lose not myself in the task of winning others to Christ, I BECOME AS A CLOUD OF MIST IN AN OPEN SEA…And tho’ I read all Sunday School literature, and attend Sunday School conventions, institutes, and summer schools, and yet am satisfied with less than winning souls to Christ and establishing others in Christian character and service, IT PROFITS NOTHING…

The soul-winning servant, the character-building servant, suffers long and is kind; he envies not others who are free from the servant’s task; he vaunts not himself, is not puffed up with intellectual pride…

Such a servant does not behave himself unseemly between Sundays, seeks not his own comfort, is not easily provoked. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things…And now abides knowledge, methods, the MESSAGE, these three: but the greatest of these is the MESSAGE!!”

What did Paul say in Romans 1:16? “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation…”

Expanding your vision and horizon of touching the souls of men in our world!! Donald Whitney, in “Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life,”

(p.112), writes: “Throughout his life, John Bunyan, author of “Pilgrim’s Progress,” insisted that the conversation of some poor women, talking of the things of God while sitting in a sunlit doorway, was a critical turning point in his coming to Christ. Believe that the Lord can use what YOU say as “The Great Catalyst of Conversion.”

Hear me with all your heart: Are you a catalyst for the conversion of our world? Are you a seed planter? What is YOUR strategy to touch the world beginning at your doorstep? Whitney said, “If God does not use people like these – LIKE US – as His witnesses, there will be no human witnesses.” God, help us to expand.

WE NEED AN EXPANDING VISION AND HORIZON AS TO THE BROADENED AVENUE OF THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER.

In Matthew 6, as Jesus saw the multitudes, He led His disciples to a mountain, sat them down to instruct them, and in verses 5-7, three times He said, “…when you pray…” Jesus never said, “…if you pray…”

The disciples had been with Him now for a long period of time, in the early morning, mid-day, late afternoons, early evening, all night. In Luke 11:1, “Now it came to pass, as Jesus was praying in a certain place, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray…’”

They could have said, “Lord, teach us to work miracles;” “Lord, teach us to maximize our incomes;” “Lord, teach us to be good citizens;” “Lord, teach us to fight the powers of darkness;” “Lord, teach us to heal;” No, they said, “Lord, teach us to pray!!!”

Look at the world around you – both secular and religious – and what are their priorities for successful men?

• Get a good worldly education!
• Get a song to sing – be a happy person!
• Find a worthy cause or profession to invest your life in!
• Be disciplined to make your mark, making a name for yourself!
• Set your goals to establish yourself as one of the world’s wealthiest men!

No, your greatest priority? “Lord, teach us to pray.”

In fact, Alexander Whyte wrote a book entitled “Lord, Teach Us To Pray.” And in it is one chapter heading: “The Magnificence Of Prayer.” Is the magnificence of prayer woven into the fabric of your walk as a disciple?

Alfred Lord Tennyson (“Morte d’ Arthur”) wrote: “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let your voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friends? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.” So true, but the greater truth is:

“Bound by gold chains about the heart and hands of God!!”

Samuel Henry Price said it so eloquently: “The world is full of faces, black with anger, green with envy and red with shame, which could be made radiantly white with holiness and spirituality aglow by the transfiguring power of prayer.” What does James 5:16 say? “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Matthew 26:41 says, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

In Luke 18:1 Jesus spoke a parable to His disciples, “THAT MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY, AND NOT TO FAINT.”

John 16:24 is a challenge from Jesus, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Are you a joy-filled disciple?

Look at Ephesians 5:18, “praying always with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”

Has the ‘Last Days’ church forgotten or ignored II Chronicles 7:14? “If Mt people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sins, and heal their land.” God, help us! God, wake us up from our prayerless sleeping!! No wonder you walk in most churches today and think you’re in a funeral home!

What was it that caused the early church to turn their world upside down? Acts 4:331 says, “AND WHEN THEY HAD PRAYED, the place where they were assembled together WAS SHAKEN; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with BOLDNESS!”

Oh, but listen to Matthew 21:13!!! And Jesus said to them, “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” Either the omission of prayer in our lives is dominant or we’ve discovered the magnificence of prayer! It’s either the absence of prayer in our lives or the erupting, bubbling of the springs of prayer that touch our world surroundings with grace and mercy!

It’s either the absence of prayer in our lives or the acceleration of that ministry of intercession.

It’s either a void in our lives or a continuous volcanic eruption of the “greater works” ministry of Christ through us because we ARE “PRAYERS”!

It’s either impotent spirituality in the dynamic and discipline of prayer or the unleashing in our lives of the potent power and privilege of prayer.

Kierkegaard used to speak of that “little chamber…where…(a true suppliant) (prays)…where HE LIFTS THE WORLD OFF ITS HINGES.”

James Montgomery in his book on prayer said: “Prayer moves the arm which moves the world, AND BRINGS SALVATION DOWN.”

I’m not talking about your little poetic ditties some call prayer – but, Do you lay hold of God, and you won’t let go until He answers and blesses?

I’m not talking to you about “occasional impulses,” but that expanded life and ministry of PRAYING TO GOD. Do you?

If it should not be thought an incredible thing that God raises the dead, why should I not through prayer lay hold of Him who can raise me, raise us to heights where we’ve never been before in unceasing prayer?

WE NEED AN EXPANDING VISION AND HORIZON AS TO THE BLESSEDNESS OF PLANTING OUR FEET ON THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN-PEAK OF THE ETERNAL.

You don’t have to wonder why Paul wrote what he did to the church at Colossae in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Do you understand the battle that every life faces as to this world or the eternal world here and now plus forever, beyond the earthly entanglements?

Do you understand the battle that each individual faces or wrestles with as to the investment of his life in either the temporal or the eternal?

Do you understand the battle that all of us have to come to grips with as to what has our hearts in time, in importance, in significance as to my life pumping my flesh or honoring God through the Spirit?

I want you to listen to the three verses of three different gospels as to the seed of God’s Word sown among the thorns:

• Matthew 13:22, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes UNFRUITFUL.”
• Mark 4:18-19, “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word…and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches AND THE DESIRES FOR OTHER THINGS entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
• Luke 8:14, “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are CHOKED with cares, riches, and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity.”

Oh, but listen, God “set (our) feet in a wide place,” not a place narrowed to our selfish concerns! God “brought me out into a broad place,” of understanding that I am part of His ETERNAL SCHEME, His FOREVER PLAN, His GLORIOUS HEAVEN in the world beyond!

Enlarging, expanding, lengthening, and strengthening is not to make me comfortable here, but to broaden my awareness of THERE!

No wonder the famous David Livingstone impacted Africa for so long. He said: “I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in relation to the kingdom of Christ.” His kingdom is ETERNAL!

In 2 Peter 1:10-11 Peter said, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble…for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

I’m telling you, WE MUST EXPAND OUR VISION AND HORIZON!

“This world is not my home, I’m just a’ passing through, My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue…

The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore…

Oh, Lord, you know I have no friend like You, If Heaven’s not my home, Then Lord what will I do…

The heavens beckon me from Heaven’s open door And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A SENSE OF URGENCY

In Ephesians 5:15,16 Paul challenges the Church: “Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

With an understanding of man’s frailty, James, in James 4:14, said, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

That’s why the great preacher of the 1700’s, Jonathan Edwards, author of “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God,” prayed – “Oh, God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!”

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines urgency as “Pressure – pressing with necessity; as the urgency of want or distress – even violent or vehement.”

Hezekiah learned of that urgency through direct instruction from the Lord. One day he was healthy, the next, he was mortally ill (2 Kings 20). God sent Isaiah the prophet to warn him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”

Some men never consider that life in this world is just a fleeting moment in the span of eternity. No thought is given to the reality of their impending death – or what follows the grave!

Shakespeare, in Macbeth (Act V.,sc 5,2.6) said, “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” What a sad commentary of a man’s understanding of life.

But Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his Psalm of Life wrote: “Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal.” I don’t know if he knew what was beyond, but he knew there was more!

John Wesley wrote, “I desire to have heaven and hell ever in my eye, while I stand on the isthmus of life between two boundless oceans.”

And then there’s King David, no wonder he was the apple of God’s eye! Psalm 39:4-5, “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the extent of my days. Let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is a mere breath!"

The Apostle Paul challenged first century Christians to redeem “the times, because the days are evil.” Are you eternity conscious? Are you aware of the days, their number, destiny, signs, opportunities, or wisdom? I Chronicles 12:32 speaks of the “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.” Deuteronomy 32:29 says, “Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their future (or latter end)!”

In Deuteronomy 28 the children of Israel were presented the sanctions of God’s covenant with them – blessings that accompany obedience and curses

brought on by disobedience. One of the curses that comes upon those who refuse to walk in God’s ways is found in verse 66, where it says, “So your life shall hang in doubt before you: and you shall be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.” Man will go through life either experiencing an assurance of life, of blessing, and of his future, or his life will be spent in agonizing uncertainty. Ecclesiastes 7:17 asks, “why should you die before your time?” Or, why should you die before you’ve begun to live?

In Deuteronomy 32 the Lord talks about the unwise. Verse 35 says, “In due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending thins are hastening upon them.” Continuing in verses 46-47 He warns, “Take to your heart all the words which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed, it is your life!”

Do you remember Paul speaking before Felix and his wife, Drusilla, in Acts 24? Paul preached that faith in Christ Jesus means “righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.” Felix became frightened, and said to Paul, “Go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you.” There is no evidence he ever did! He didn’t sense the urgency of the moment.

In Acts 26:28,29 Paul shared with Agrippa, but rather than yielding to Paul’s challenge, he responded, “In a short time, Paul, if I let you, you will persuade me to become a Christian.” He pushed Paul away, went back to the business of being a “little king” and forever missed the King of kings!

Jude 18,20,21 says, “In the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts. But you…keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”

What is this, “A Sense of Urgency”?

IT IS “TAKING CHRIST SERIOUSLY”.

Ephesians 5:15 says, “Therefore, be careful how you walk…” The Amplified Bible says, “Look carefully then how you walk. Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise – sensible, intelligent people, making the most of the time –buying up each opportunity – because the days are evil.” Why?

I Timothy 4:1 speaks to that: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” Are you aware of the reality of some “falling away from the faith”? Do you even know its dangers? Or have you cut out of your Bible the passages that give warning to apostates, “the cutting off,” “the assigning of a place with unbelievers,” or “the transgressors and sinners crushed together”?

Hebrews 3 speaks of those who began, but did not finish the journey. Read carefully Hebrews 3:12-19. It’s a warning! “Take care, brothers, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God!” He challenges us not to be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Our call to “follow Christ” is serious and urgent because it is a call not to a life of ease and comfort, but instead to commitment and a cross! In Romans 8:18 Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” Suffering? In modern-day “Christian America?” Though suffering for the sake of the gospel is not something most Americans consider, except as something experienced by Christians in hostile societies, it should be the daily experience of every believer – I Peter 4:1,2 tells us how: “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” Has the desire to live your life in fulfillment of the will of God, regardless of the cost, been the testimony of your life?

Look at Romans 13:11-14, “And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Paul urged members of the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 6:1 “not to receive the grace of God in vain.” What a statement! So many disciples professing faith in Christ fail to utilize the grace given to them by God in their daily spiritual battles. They encounter a conflict between the nature of their flesh and the Spirit, and rather than resisting the flesh and trusting in the grace of God to deliver them, thereby experiencing “the day of salvation,” They submit to the natural desire of their flesh and rebel against God.

Taking Christ seriously means remaining alert! In Luke 21:36 Jesus warned His disciples, “But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Too many disciples follow in the example of the children of Israel who did not consider their latter end! What can we do to avoid the pitfall of their example?

Maintaining your spiritual alertness? Two-fold:

A commitment to prayer: Luke 18:1 Jesus speaking to His disciples, “that at ALL TIMES they OUGHT TO PRAY, and not lose heart.” In Ephesians 6:18 Paul said, “Pray at all times in the Spirit!” [Look at Daniel 6:10!]. And,

A commitment to the Word: Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of scripture we might have hope.”

Our call to “follow Christ” is a call to daily spiritual warfare! Ephesians 6:12 tells us that “OUR STRUGGLE is not against flesh and blood [only], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We must each enter that battle for our own lives – Paul told Timothy, I Timothy 1:18, to “Fight the good fight.”

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul explains how we enter that battle and reveals to us the weapons that must be utilized, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Many people live their entire lives never understanding the battle; others simply grow weary and give up, tired of resisting, tired of staying alert, tired of guarding their minds.

I Chronicles 20:1 begins the life-long saga of heartache and tragedy experienced by David, when at a time for kings to go out to battle, David went A.W.O.L…Psalm 78:9 tells us of the children of Israel, equipped for battle, sent by the Lord, “yet they turned back in the day of battle.” The result was centuries of despair caused by enemies remaining in the land that should have been driven out.

Sometimes we may fail, falter, or find ourselves accommodating the flesh rather than the spiritual and eternal. Ecclesiastes 9:12 says, “Moreover, man does not know his time; like fish caught in a treacherous net, and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.”

Samson is an example of someone who did not remain alert, he weakened; he failed to take seriously his holy calling and ended up with the Philistines gouging out his eyes, binding him with chains, and being imprisoned. Have you ever lost your spiritual vision? Have you ever limped around in spiritual bondage? Have you ever awakened to find yourself languishing in slavery?

But Samson learned to lean through what he suffered! Judges 16:28, “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time…” And God did! “A SENSE OF URGENCY”?

THAT’S RECOGNITION, AWARENESS OF, AND BATTLING AGAINST THE FLOOD OF OPPOSITION.

No one whose heart goes after Jesus and whose path is directed by the Holy Word of God can look around our world and not be ashamed of the rampaging flood of earthly, natural, and demonic ‘wisdom’ that is being poured out in opposition to the wisdom of God.

Sexual perversion is so rampant it’s enough to make one heart-sick. On one of my trips to India with Bob Phillips, who was founder and co-pastor of Times Square Church in New York city, Bob told me then, at least 12-15 years ago, that in the New York City public school system a “family life” curriculum had been introduced that taught masturbation to sixth grade boys and girls!

We are not just facing a flood of sexual perversion, but a flood of every form of wickedness that is raised up in opposition to the ways of God – greed, compromise, deception, a lying spirit – in the business and political systems – a man’s word is no longer his bond, very few can be trusted, especially our national leaders! Anything goes. What pleases me, what gives me satisfaction, that’s OK.. Moral absolutes are out. No final authority – just what pleases me.

In James 3:14-17, James wrote, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” The wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world are in stark contrast!

Job, in a struggle to understand what was taking place in his life, asks an important question, (Job 28:12,13), “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.”

There is worldly wisdom, but it is raised up in opposition to the wisdom of God! Paul wrote in I Corinthians 3:19 that “the wisdom of the world is foolishness before God.” In I Corinthians 1:19,20 he records God saying, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside,” and continues, saying, “God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.”

As believers in Christ, we have one great advantage over the world – time! As time progresses, the futility of man’s wisdom and the superiority of God’s ways are proven. 2 Timothy 3:9 says, “But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all…”

Have you personally wrestled with what true wisdom is all about? Let me give you a few verses to the door of enlightment!!:

• “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” – Job 28:28
• “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright.” Proverbs 2:6-7
• “Now Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom” – Deuteronomy 34:9
• “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom” Proverbs 11:2
• “The rod and reproof give wisdom” Proverbs 29:15
• “The “Branch of Jesse” – “and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding” Isaiah 11:2
• “Christ became to us wisdom from God” – I Corinthians 1:30
• “I pray..God..may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” – Ephesians 1:17
• But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously” – James 1:5

If our nation is to be saved there must be a return to the wisdom that comes from God. How we must urgently pray for God to raise up men like Bezalel, Exodus 31:2,3, men filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to restore the American church, and ultimately the nation, in “the wisdom from above.”

The history of Israel is tragic. Times of apostasy led to judgment from God resulting in destruction upon the nation. Sometimes, in their distress, they would cry out to Him and truly turn back, but it never lasted. In Hebrews 3:10 Paul recorded the Lord’s frustration with His people, “Therefore I was angry with this generation and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways.” If we are to walk in wisdom, we must learn from the example of Israel’s failure. Will we follow in their example of disobedience, or will we seek after the Lord alone? It is the only hope for ANY nation! Isaiah 33:6 prophesied of the coming Messiah and reveals God’s intentions for His people who will receive Him and walk in His ways, “He shall be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is His treasure.” “A SENSE OF URGENCY?”

HEART-BROKENNESS OVER THE WORLD’S WICKEDNESS.

In Ephesians 5:16 Paul warns us to “redeem the time because the days are evil.” Man, without God, runs in circles, making paths of unrighteousness that hold him captive. His wickedness becomes more and more ingrained and more difficult to escape its hold! I’m 76 years of age, and it is hard to believe the depth of depravity my nation has sunk to in the last forty to fifty years!

Paul understood (2 Timothy 3:13) that “evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived!” He told the church at Rome that as they present the members of their bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, which is sin, it produces further lawlessness – sin breeds more sin. That explains how a nation with a motto, “In God We Trust,” can buy the lie of political rhetoric that says a person’s moral character has nothing to do with his ability to govern – resulting in the election of a man with no moral character to the most powerful office in the world, lying every time he opens his mouth!! [By the way, God says, “All liars go to Hell!!]. His lying spirit and election exposes the wickedness of our nation and our need of a new “Great Awakening”!!

In Ephesians 6:13 Paul urges us not to give up in such a time as this – instead he challenges us to “take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.”

WE will no longer be able to take our faith for granted in America. Freedoms that were purchased with the blood of our forefathers, born out of a desire to establish a “city on a hill” giving light to the whole world – are now under attack and being lost, almost on a daily basis. I haven’t given up hope on America yet. There is hope. I don’t believe it is the will of God for us “to perish;” but a price must be paid! The price of prayer, the price of costly discipleship, the price of emptying ourselves that we may be supernaturally filled with God’s Holy Spirit, the price of upholding the Word of God – even in the face of legal and political persecution, and the price of broken hearts at the Throne of Grace crying out to Him for a “divine visitation”! “A SENSE OF URGENCY”?

DEEP, HEART-FELT AWARENESS OF MULTITUDES WITHOUT CHRIST.

In 2 Kings 5 there is the story of Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram. The Bible says that he was a great man and one that was highly respected – a valiant warrior. But “he was a leper.”

That’s the picture of every man, woman, boy or girl across our world. Without Christ, deathly ill with a spiritual leprosy called sin. They are bound for an eternal hell apart from salvation in Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ they are without hope.

That may be your father or your mother. It may be your brother or your sister. It may be your closest friend, your employer, or your fellow employee. Isaiah 59:2 says that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you.” It’s true! And there is only one way to restore the breach between God and man that was brought about by sin – (Acts 4:12), “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” That name? JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH! The urgency of the hour is that hundreds of millions of people are slipping into eternity having never heard the name of Jesus.

Proverbs 24:20 says, “For there will be no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” But the heart of God cries out: “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are as scarlet they will be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be like wool.” There’s HOPE! It is in Christ Jesus, the Lord, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! It is the message that God has entrusted to every disciple to proclaim – it is urgent that the Gospel be proclaimed to all men in every nation! “A SENSE OF URGENCY?”

OUR EYES OPENED TO THE REALITY OF DIVINE JUDGMENT!

It’s awesome! Think about it! Hebrews 9:27 says, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for man to die once and after this comes judgment!” Judgment!

Romans 14:10 says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.” God, help us! Even the church doesn’t know, doesn’t believe, or doesn’t care “that judgment begins with the household of God!” (I Peter 4:17).

In Jude 14 and 15 it’s written, “And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Peter, (2 Peter 2:9), warned that “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.”

It’s so urgent!! Psalm 96:13 says, “For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the people in His faithfulness.”

So many lives that we touch every day are hanging over the entrance to hell by a single strand of thread – and the thread is old and rotten. It’s not very popular to talk about today, but hell is real – it was prepared for the devil and his angels – but it has become a place for all who are without Christ!

It’s that place “where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.” We need a big whiff of the smoke and stench of Hell!

Leonard Ravenhill wrote a message before his death entitled “Your Day In Court.” I wish there was room to reprint it in its entirety –

“Can you see those millions of unholy dead? All the criminals who ever lived. All the prostitutes. All the men who make millions from pornography. Can you think of the pimps who pollute those little girls on West 42^nd Street in New York? Can you imagine when God takes hold of history and empties it?! When every man who ever walked the streets of ancient Babylon with all its lusts, or Corinth which was just one colossal cesspool of impurity, must account for himself? When all that has happened in Las Vegas last night is going to be ‘thrown on the screen’ in eternity! Every king that has ruled over England, the caliphs of Baghdad, the maharajas of India, the multi-millionaire, the billionaire – they’re all going to stand one day! Can you imagine that? At the Judgment Seat of Christ they will have to account for all of their deeds done in the body. Every judge that sits in the high court is going to be judged one day by an Infallible Judge. How long will it take? I don’t know and I don’t care…because we’re t going anywhere! I think one of the joys of eternity will be that the redeemed will see all the unholy dead judged, but the unholy won’t see the judgment of the saints, because they won’t be there….

“You may say, ‘Well, Mr. Ravenhill, I won’t be in serious trouble because I don’t have a good memory.’ Well, you’ll have one that day. There’s going to be some awful revelation. There’s going to be some weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. John says the books were opened. (Revelation 20:12) What books? I’m not really sure what books are, but I think the book of the Ten Commandments for one, and I think maybe the Book of Memory for another thing. (Mal.3:16). You see, memory is an amazing thing. Memory will last into eternity. I don’t think the redeemed will remember their sorrows and heartaches, but I’ll tell you the unholy dead will remember every time somebody put a tract into their hand. They’ll remember it through eternity and wish to God they still had a chance to respond. They’ll remember every one of their mother’s prayers they ever heard. They’ll remember every word of every sermon they ever sat through. They’re going to remember everything. How do I know? Because one day a man in hell prayed. It was not only the wrong place to pray, but he prayed to the wrong person (to Abraham), and he of course got the wrong answer (according to the answer he was looking for). ‘Child, remember that during your life, you received your good things…’ ‘But I don’t want my brothers to come here!’ But Jesus says, ‘Remember.’ (Luke 16:19-31). Memory is eternal. It will never die. Your memory isn’t faulty. Every-thing you’ve done, every idle word you’ve spoken, and every action will one day be recalled.

“The unholy dead are going to stand, great and small, before God. Sometimes I look at my Encyclopedia Britannica and I think of all the history that is going to pass before me in the flesh. I’ll be interested to see Julius Caesar and Tiberius Caesar. I’ll be fascinated when Pontius Pilate stands before Jesus. I think he’ll be more uncomfortable than Jesus felt standing before him! It will be awesome when we see the founders of these cults stand before God. When, in God’s name, is the Church going to open their heart and mind and see that every man will stand accountable to God? I don’t care if he flies his own private jet or how many cities or millions of people he rules. It doesn’t matter. The great of the earth and the lowest of the earth are all going to spend their time in eternity. They are going to live there forever and ever, ‘where their worm does not die…’ (Mark 9:48). Hell won’t be the same for everybody. Some will be beaten with a few stripes, some with many stripes (Luke 12:47-48). But I tell you what – I’d rather be the least in the Kingdom of God than the greatest in the kingdom of the devil, both in time and in eternity.” WOW! THANKS, DR. RAVENHILL!!

Do you remember Revelation 9:6? “And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die and death flees from them.” JUDGED! JUDGED!

In Revelation 6 there’s the breaking of the sixth seal! Verses 15-17, “and the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains…and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”

I’ll tell you who will stand – the ones who are “IN CHRIST JESUS”!! So, I believe I’d find out what it means to be “IN CHRIST JESUS!”

“A SENSE OF URGENCY?”

CONSIDER THE UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE.

We began this message by looking at James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

David recognized that a man’s life was like a mere breathy in the scope of eternity. Job exclaimed that his days were “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.”

But there are those who know that things are not right in their hearts toward God, but say, “It’s not urgent – I have plenty of time.” And then, without warning, it’s gone… the day of opportunity vanishes – because they didn’t sense the shortness or the uncertainty of life!

Jesus, in one of His seven letters to the churches contained in Revelation, rebuked the church at Thyatira for tolerating “the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” He goes on to say to her, “And I gave her time to repent; and she does not want to repent of her immorality.” It is so crucial that you understand that He does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to repentance! He gave her time to repent, just as He gives all of us the time and opportunity – but He will not contend with us forever. There is a point at which He ceases to strive with us.

The tragedy is that so many people ignore His voice and harden their hearts to the wooing of the Spirit. That’s why He tells us in Hebrews 3:7, “Therefore, just as the Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they [Israel] provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness.” Don’t follow in their example – yield to Him. Don’t put it off – yield TODAY!

The attitude should affect your manner of life on this earth. In I Peter 1:17 we find out what kind of effect it should have upon us: “And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon the earth.” In other words, recognize the urgency of the moment! Do you? I urge you to redeem the time, make the most of every moment to seek after God while He can be found!

By J. FARRELL FISHER, June 5-6, 2017

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Paul challenges us, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal (fleshly or according to the old Adam-nature!). For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and BEHAVING LIKE MERE MEN?”

It was Fenelon who once said: “There is practically nothing that men do not prefer to God. A tiresome detail of business, an occupation utterly pernicious to health, the employment of time in ways one does not dare to mention. Anything rather than God.” A number of lessons I need to deal with in these moments:

1. MERE MEN WALK AND WANDER APART FROM GOD! In 2 Corinthians 5:11 Paul said, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”. In fact, in Proverbs 1:7 the ‘wise man’ wrote: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” And the ‘persuasion of men’?

A. Though they’ve been ‘lost’ to God, “In Christ” they are found! B. Though they’ve been separated to God, “In Christ” they’re made one with God in and through Him! C. Though they were without Christ mortal only, “In Christ” they become immortal in Him! D. Though they were dominated by an old sin nature, “In Christ” they’ve become partakers of the divine nature!

Genesis 5:24 tells us, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for GOD TOOK HIM!” In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and Verses 17-21 we read: 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Verses 17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That, my friends, is a Glory to God Word!

2. MERE MEN THOUGH SUBSTITUTE THEIR BEST FOR GOD’S BEST! In Genesis 2:15-17 we read, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, “of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

I love Jose Desalzo’s comment in his writing, “God’s Frontier” when he wrote: If God is lacking, nothing a man does is of more consequence than the acts of a mouse.” Your best as a ‘mouse’ or God’s best as a “man in Christ”?

In Galatians 2:20 Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Christ Jesus said in John 15:4-5, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

3. MERE MEN WALK DIVISIVELY, NOT IN A UNIFYING MANNER! Again 1 Corinthians 3:3, “for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”

In Psalm 133 we find a powerful, unifying theme! It says: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of (Mt.) Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; For the Lord commanded the blessing – Life forevermore.”

Do YOU love the ‘brotherhood’? I’ll never forget doing a meeting in southern India in Coimbatore years ago – I had insisted outreach to every church, every pastor or priest, every gathering regardless of denominational affiliation! After four or five days together, I saw men truly “love one another”!

4. MERE MEN WALK IN THE FLESH, NOT IN THE SPIRIT! In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, not thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

I love what the blind Helen Keller said before her death. “Never consent to creep when you feel the impulse to soar!” But again, Paul in Ephesians 5:17-21, said: “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

5. MERE MEN WALK WITH FLESHLY AMBITIONS ONLY – NOT TO PLEASE GOD! In 2 Corinthians 5:4-9 we read: “For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God; who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” But not unbelieving men consumed with fleshly ambitions! It was Pierre Duplessis who said: “Surely, if all the world was made for man, then man was made for more than the world.” Do YOU know what that is?

6. MERE MEN WALK WITH AN AFFIRMATION OF THEIR LIVES APART FROM GOD – THE MASTER’S MEN HAVE NO TRUST IN THEMSELVES! In 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 Paul wrote: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, Verse 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”

Paul enlarged our understanding in 2 Corinthians 3:5 when he said, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” Proverbs 3:5-8 is so essential in living a victorious, overcoming life. It says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him (Giving God His rightful place as Sovereign Administrator over your life!) and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”

It was Thomas a Kempis who once wrote: “God never deceives; but a man is deceived whenever he puts too much trust in himself. MAN PROPOSES BUT GOD DISPOSES.” The prophet Hosea gave a call to repentance to the nation Israel, and, yes, to all across our world today: Hosea 10:12-13, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your own way…”

7. MERE MEN WALK WITH BLINDED EYES – GOD’S MEN WALK WITH SPIRITUAL, HEAVENLY VISION! Again, Paul made it so clear by the anointed writing through the Holy Spirit! In 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 he said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Men with blinded eyes? Epictetus, in his writing, “Fragments”, wrote: “Man is a little soul carrying around a corpse.”

8. MERE MEN WALK ON THE BASIS OF THEIR PERSONAL PERFORMANCE – GOD’S MEN WALK ABOUT STANDING ON THE PROMISES! In 2 Corinthians 7:1 we read, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

In Daniel 11:32 the prophet tells us, “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.239), “The promises of God are of no value to us until by obedience we understand the nature of God. We read some things in the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times and they mean nothing to us, then all of a sudden we see what God means, because in some particular we have obeyed God, and instantly His nature is opened up. “All the promises of God in Christ are Yes, and in Him Amen.” The “yes” must be born of obedience; when by the obedience of our lives we say “Amen” to a promise, then that promise is ours.”

9. MERE MEN WALK EARTHBOUND – GOD’S MEN LIVE IN THE HEAVENLIES! In Ephesians 2:4-10 we read, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Mere men earthbound or Holy Men of God living in the heavenly kingdom now? Mere men or Messengers of God? Mere men or Mighty Men of valor? Mere men or Ambassadors of Christ? Mere men or sons and daughters of God our Father? Mere men or ministers of reconciliation? Mere men or Witnesses of Saving Grace? Mere men or the Elect, the Chosen of God? Mere men or the Apples of God’s eyes? Mere men or God’s workmanship? Mere men or Partners with God? Mere men or Vessels of honor before Holy God?

Mere men or clay in the hands of the Potter sculpted in His Holy Image? Mere men or partakers of the divine nature? Mere men alone in emptiness or One in Him the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

10. MERE MEN WILL WALK RELIGIOUSLY – BUT NOT RE-BORN! In John 3, If Jesus says, “You must be born again,” does that mean “best effort” or “Amazing Grace”? It was Max Depree who wrote: “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” And that means all of fallen mankind must accept the crucifixion of their “old man” with Christ at Calvary’s Cross, and the “new-birth” resurrection life in Christ!

Mere men or the new born? “In Christ” has profound, life-changing, eternal realities! Her Me! “I’m chosen of God to bear His Name! A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special person!

I’m the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, born again into the Holy Family of God. “in Christ” we’re sons and daughters of our heavenly family, our lives have been “hidden with Christ in God,” and He’s raised us up to be seated with Christ in Heavenly Places, declared to be ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, entrusted with the Gospel and counted worthy to walk with Christ.

Jesus is the Bridegroom – we’re the Bride of Christ, witnesses of His Redeeming Grace, trustees of the mystery of godliness, and God says we’re “priests and kings unto Him”, the very fragrance of Christ, His peace-makers, His disciples, His soldiers of the Cross.

And “in Him” we’re more than conquerors, new creations, living sacrifices, epistles, poems of the grace, mercy, and love of God – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, disciples, “Followers of Christ”, servants of the King, bearing the image of the Heavenly Man, the called, the separated, the anointed, indwelt by the Fullness of God, Messengers, Proclaimers, Heralds of the Gospel,

The Glorious Body of Christ and members of that Holy Body in particular, Vessels through which God reveals His Son, the salt and light, the Symphony God sings about, the music of His heart, and over us He sings the sounds of joy and sweet pleasure!

There’s an old hymn by Charles Wesley and John Zundel published in”The American Hymnal” in 1933 by The Broadman Press in Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of Heaven, to earth come down! Fix in us Your humble dwelling; All Your faithful mercies crown. Jesus, You are all compassion, Pure, unbounded love You are; Visit us with Your salvation; Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Your loving Spirit Into every troubled breast! Let us all in You inherit, Let us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be; End of faith, as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver, Let us all Your life receive; Suddenly, return, and never, Nevermore Your temples leave; You we would be always blessing, Serve You as Your hosts above, Pray, and praise You without ceasing, Glory in Your perfect love.

Finish then Your new creation; Pure and spotless let us be; Let us see Your great salvation, Perfectly restored in You; Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before You, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.” AMEN?

By J. Farrell Fisher, July 9-11, 2017

Paul gives us holy, eternal, and life-changing truth when in 1 Corinthians 2:14 he wrote: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” even mentioning in 1 Corinthians 3:3 about those, in the Corinthian church, who “are carnal and behaving like mere men”!

How clear was Christ Jesus when in John 3:6 He said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ and that’s true of every natural man – and born of flesh, his greatest need is to be “born of the Spirit”!

As you study the Word of God, are you clear about why Christ Jesus “exposed” the religious Jews of His day? In John 8:31-44 is an unveiling of the “True seed” and those of Satan’s family loyalists! It says: The Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free.” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin (present tense, continuous action!) is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from (or out of) God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

To be confronted by Christ Jesus is to have one’s heart and mind exposed to Truth, to the need of blood redemption, to the alternative of ‘life in Christ’ or death under Satan’s domination, or to “the desires of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do,” or to resurrection life, resurrection power, or resurrection hope!

If you continued in John 8:48-51, you’d discover your greatest hope! Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

“Never see death”? We all ‘see’ death, but Christ Jesus was saying that if anyone stands in His Word he’ll never be held in death’s bondage eternally but live in His life throughout eternity, and those who live without Him will be held eternally under Satan’s control in the death that never dies with all unbelievers! And dare I to say, “to live without Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and Master of one’s life is to be bound by a hopeless and unfulfilling existence forever and ever”?

And one has to wonder: “Why the great chasm between ‘professing Christians (?)’ and true disciples, true followers, true sold-out-disciples?”

I was highly impressed and encouraged when I read in Dallas Willard’s book, “The Great Omission”, in his introduction, he satiated, “The governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be ‘Christians’ forever and never become disciples.” And he called it the Great Omission with Great Disparity flourishing, or, “Will they break out of churches to be His Church”? So, I would assume, one of the greatest needs across ‘modern-day’ church life is the necessity of re-instituting “making disciples”!

So, let’s examine, FIRST, in discovering YOUR greatest need: HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE GIFT OF CHRIST JESUS IN REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD AND TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE WORK THROUGH HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?

In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul tells us, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”?

My concern? Sometimes one’s grief about his circumstances and situations in life is but the shadow of God’s convicting presence apart from a true desire to be reconciled to God! But Isaiah 61:1-3 unveils a true repentant mind and heart! It says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

It was William Cowper who once wrote: “The path of sorrow, and that path alone, leads to the land where sorrow is unknown; no traveler ever reached that blessed abode who found not thorns or briers in his road.” And I would ask YOU, “Have you recognized, repented of, and seen the blood of the Lamb removing from you what separated you from Him? Is there, was there, sorrow in your heart when the Holy Spirit convicted you, if He did, of your sin and separation from Holy God?

It was Harriet Beecher Stow who many years ago wrote: [The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Fleming H. Revell Com., Westwood, N.J.], “Sorrow is divine. Sorrow is reigning on all the thrones of the universe, and the crown of all crowns has been one of thorns. There are many books that treat of the sympathy of sorrow, but only one that bids us glory in tribulation, and count it all joy when we fall into divers afflictions, that so we may be associated with that great fellowship of suffering of which the Incarnate Son of God is the head, and through which He is carrying a redemptive conflict to a glorious victory over evil. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”

How familiar ARE YOU WITH THE Book of Lamentations? [But, of course, there are those who would say, “Old Testament truths have nothing to do with New Testament disciples,” but I would say, “These folks are far, far from the Truth!”]. You should read ALL of Lamentations, but let me share Lamentations 1:12-16!!

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought upon me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger.

From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it overpowered them; He has spread a net for my feet and turned me back; He has made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions was bound; they were woven together by His hands and thrust upon my neck. He made my strength fail; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst; He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord trampled as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things I weep; my eye, my eye overflows with water; because the comforter, who should restore my life, is far from me; my children are desolate because the enemy prevailed.”

SECOND, HAS YOUR LIFE SITUATIONS BROUGHT YOU TO THE ETERNAL SITUATION OF EXAMINING YOURSELF, DETERMINING WHAT REALLY HAS YOUR HEART? I’m really sorry if the Word offends you, but YOU must examine what really has your heart! It’s as if some church folk today, and certainly those in and of the world, are convinced it’s their choice as to what rules and reigns in their own hearts!

And it was Oswald Chambers who once commented on either ‘selective affinity (that) dies’ or the ‘sanctified abandonment’ of lives that live in and through Christ only! [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.120]. He said: “You cannot consecrate what is not yours; there is only one thing you can consecrate to God, and that is your right to yourself (Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experience out of you. God’s experiments always succeed. The one mark of a saint (One set apart to God’s glory!) is the moral originality which springs from abandonment to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing wellspring of original life all the time; the Spirit of God is a well of water springing up, perennially fresh. The saint realizes that it is God Who engineers circumstances, consequently there is no whine, but a reckless abandon to Jesus.”

And the question of this very moment for you before Holy God is: Are you abandoned only to the glory of Christ alone or does ‘selective affinity’ rule and reign over you? What YOU face in your life’s pilgrimage up until now, have those ‘life experiences’ brought you to what or who has your heart?

THIRD, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, HAVING DETERMINED WHO HAS YOUR HEART, AND NOW AS “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS”, ARE YOU EXERCISING THROUGH GOD’S DIVINE POWER ALL AUTHORITY OVER THE THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS?

You do understand that in the ‘religious world’, including even your local church setting, that you will find some awareness or awakenings we all need to be alerted to! For example: There can be an inclination to without the appropriation of, there can be thoughtful considerations without transformation, there can be argumentation without acceptance by God, there can be theories of the mind religiously without Truth that transforms, and one can possess a ‘thirst’ but no desire for the “Living Water’!

In 2 Peter 1:1-11 Peter awakens us to the true righteous remnant! (And I’ll never forget Miss Bertha Smith, missionary to China most of her adult life, who said on an occasion, teaching in a church I pastored: “Probably 90-95% of the church pastors in America need to be “born again”!” I tell you, it scared Hell out of some pastors that day!) Peter wrote:

“To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,

To virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

THEREFORE, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Our modern-day world, related to ‘Christian activity’, is faced with, I believe, three distinct choices that people everywhere can choose from: 1) Cultural Christianity (where a very significant number have chosen to live, 2) World religions, that number millions upon millions, or 3) Christ-Given Re-Birth! In fact, in John 3:3, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In the kingdom of God, King Jesus rules and reigns! Does He rule over, in, through your heart, mind, spirit, and body?

A spiritual evaluation? 1) Is there in you “undivided devotion”? Check Luke 14: 26! 2) Is there costly commitment? Check Luke 14:27! 3) Is there costly analysis? Check Luke 14:31! 4) Is there “awesome and full surrender? Luke 14:33!

Frank S. Mead wrote “The March of Eleven Men”. Listen with both mind and heart!! “James the brother of Jesus and James the son of Zebedee preach and are killed by mobs in Jerusalem; Matthew is slain on a sword in Ethiopia; Philip is hanged in Phrygia; Bartholomew flayed alive in Armenia. Andrew is crucified in Achaia, Thomas is run through with a lance in East India, Thaddeus is shot to death with arrows, a cross goes up in Persia for Simon the Zealot, and another in Rome for Peter. Matthias is beheaded; only John escapes a martyr’s grave.”

D.W.Whittle and May Whittle Moody wrote an old hymn entitled “Moment by Moment”. (The American Hymnal of 1933). It says: “Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; living with Jesus, a new life divine; Looking to Jesus till glory does shine, Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Never a trial that He is not there, Never a burden that He does not bear; Never a sorrow that He does not share, Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

Never a heartache, and never a groan, Never a teardrop and never a moan; Never a danger but there on the throne, Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Never a weakness that He does not feel, Never a sickness that He cannot heal; Moment by moment, in woe or in weal, Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.”

In “Christ Ascended,” Michael Bruce wrote: “In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows has a part.” He’s with you, He’s in you, He works through you!

Can you say that Christ Jesus is your “everlasting portion”, more than a friend or life, all along your ‘pilgrim journey’, but the Lord and Savior of your inner strength?

Can you say, “not for ease or worldly pleasure, not even for fame will your prayer be, but you’ll gladly toil, even suffer, if it gives glory and honor to Him”?

Can you say, “Lead me, if necessary through the vale of shadows, Just bear me over the fitful seas, Knowing the gate of life eternal, Open it wide, Lord, for You and me”?

In Ephesians 1:11-14 are powerful verses unveiling “our greatest needs” met and fulfilled in and through Christ alone! It says: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise pf His glory.”

YOUR GREATEST NEED? To be reconciled to Holy God through Christ! To be forgiven because of His shed blood! To come into oneness with God through Christ, His ambassador and reconciler! To be made a part of the Holy Family as sons and daughters birthed by the Spirit of God! To understand and make yourself available to others as His messenger! To see the significance of being joined with the choir of angels and fellow family members singing in the heart daily the “Hallelujah Chorus” as a “born-again” song-bird of Saving Faith!

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 27-28, 2017

The title is not original at all with me but heard on national television about certain ‘criminals’ who couldn’t conceive the seriousness of the charge because they were so sure they were doing what was right! How stupid can one be? Yet much of fallen humanity today, alienated and separated from God, are clueless as to their guilt, alienation, and separation from God. And, of course, the felon minds, mostly, refuse to admit there is a God that they are, supposedly, supposed to be accountable to!

Depraved minds rain “innocent pleas” when Holy God desires “new-born” divine minds choosing lives yielded for the purpose of glorifying God on earth through Christ as He is in Heaven! Just maybe, there are those specific, godless people Holy God doesn’t choose, even though He died for them, shed His own blood on the Cross, and arose desiring those to be His whose hearts beat with passion and desire to be His ‘tabernacle’ on earth, but some sadly refuse!

It’s either submission to the will of God for one’s life or his/her own insistence they’ll go their own ‘way’ – and He allows that decision, evidenced by godless living! Submission to the will of God goes against the grain of fleshly desire to remain “misdemeanor minds in a felony world”, understanding for the humbled, broken, and ‘faith-seekers’, “There must be a better life than man at his best demonstrates!” And they learn, “Jesus IS the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes TO God but through Me!”

“Misdemeanor minds in a felony world” are personally deafened by choice to sense, hear, or desire to even know or do the will of God, deepened and drowning in the dangerous ‘sea waters’ of godless brainlessness and darkened, hardened hearts! You may have read some of Frank C. Laubach’s “Letters by a Modern Mystic”, (1884-1970), but one of his classic statements that alerted me to this message was a statement saying, that he became “disgusted with the pettiness and futility of my unled self” – and I thought, “How true of all men without God!”

I’m convinced that the “misdemeanor minded” are individuals who pay no attention to “the Wind that blows wherever it wishes, and even hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes” – their attitude? “Get me out of this windy place!” But one who faces the reality of “wind conviction” can experience the reality of being “born from above, born of God, born of the Spirit” becoming “new men and new women in Christ”!

“Misdemeanor minds in a felony world” are relentless and tireless in avoiding any confrontations about God! Even in the educational fields, or ‘high business commerce’, in both professional and private lives, and, sadly, even in the ‘creative’ arts, plus the masses of unbelievers, there is a drought of any desire to know God, be apprehended by Him, or to have to acknowledge a need of any ‘saving grace’ outside themselves!

Do you remember the prophetic words of Isaiah when in Isaiah 1:2-9 he spoke unveiling the sad dilemmas of sinful nations like Israel became, except for its remnant. Isaiah wrote: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: ‘I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; the ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.’ (Are you aware of that fleshly spirit around you?).

Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity; a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? (By God?). You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.

From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

And, do you know what Verse 10 follows with? “Hear the word of the Lord!” Has that changed much, if any? God still calls today for men to hear Him, but, for many, ‘deaf ears’ rule, or ‘professors of a faith’ will substitute ‘religious rituals’ trying to ‘atone’ for their guilt themselves apart from the ‘Lamb’s blood through His crucifixion, followed by His Resurrection’, with the promise to birth “new lives” making them His Holy Temple of abiding Presence! THAT would change their lives too much, so they settle for religious pretense!

Included in ‘fallen men’s religious pretense’ is: BE INVOLVED AND COMMITTED TO WHATEVER MAKES YOU “HAPPY”. The problem with that is that Holy God isn’t interested in your fleshly happiness but your holiness because of the true working of Christ’s shed blood! Fleshly happiness, even in men’s best efforts, is academy award winning effort in intense cravings for life’s meaning that can only be discerned through the Blood Atonement – and that only occurs when one craves for oneness with God, and settles that desire God’s Way! Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me!”

In John 7:38 Jesus said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,” explaining in the very next verse that He spoke of the flow of the Holy Spirit in one’s life as they leaned on and trusted in the ministry of the Holy Spirit and not their “best effort determination”! Do you understand that there are a ton of things representing ‘flesh’ or your old sin nature that must go, and a ton of things of God’s blessing and provision the Spirit wants to release in you if you’re willing to give Him His rightful place! Are YOU abandoned to Spirit-anointing and His guidance in, through, and over your walk of faith?

In 2 Peter 1:21, just after he had spoken about ‘a light shining in dark places,” he said: “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

Sad to say, too many ‘disciples of Christ’ are not informed about the necessity of Holy Spirit anointing, abiding, equipping, gifting, and training by the Holy Spirit – it’s ‘strange’ to far too many believers! But Paul equipped His followers in Romans 15:13 when he wrote: “Now may the God of hope fill you WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING, that YOU may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Jude really laid a super-strong foundation when he wrote in Jude 20-25 the following: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, (Is that “Standing on the Promises?”), praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

And on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh (or old sin-nature). NOW to HIM who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” AND, do YOU say “Amen to that”?

Some “build themselves up” on their self-evaluation and their self-confidence which is ‘zero’ in comparison to “Holy Faith, Holy Promises, and Holy Ability”! They are blind to God and His promises!

For one powerful promise, God tells us: “I’m Able to “keep you from stumbling”, when ‘flesh’ ALWAYS leans to stumbling and ‘falling away’! Second promise? “I’m Able “to present you faultless before the presence of My glory”, when ‘flesh-presence’ is riddled with weakness’! Third promise? “I’m able to bless you with exceeding joy”, when ‘godless vessels’ attempt only to ‘be happy’ but fails over and over! Fourth promise? “I’m able to bless you now AND forever throughout all eternity!”

Yet, how many do you know who are aware of the last four promises yet never execute in faith and obedience? What did Jesus say in John 14:6? “I am the way, the truth, and the life; not a single person comes to My Father except through Me.” Do you know anything about “the deer that pants for the water”? I love Wood Kroll’s comment in his book “7 Secrets to Spiritual Success”. He said: (p.49), “Don’t thirst for God for what you can get out of Him. Love God not what He can do for you, but because there is no equal to Him….This kind of intimacy is not found through the experience of salvation alone, but through the ongoing desire of a longing heart, thirsting after God.” Glory!

Isaiah, the prophet, elaborated in Isaiah 64:6-8, saying: “But WE ARE ALL LIKE AN UNCLEAN THING, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. BUT NOW, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand.”

Dare I tell you that you are either being ‘shaped by the world, your sin-nature, or Satan’ OR you “YIELD” to the Sovereign hands of Holy God, yes, to mold you in the exact likeness of Christ Jesus Himself”! It’s either a “maimed life” or it’s a “MASTER-ED LIFE” carefully and wonderfully being shaped into the image of Christ!

A.W.Tozer, in his writing, “The Pursuit of God”, (Camp Hill, Penn.: Christian Publications,Inc., 1982, p.12), wrote: “We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him. All the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: ‘Thy right hand upholdeth me.’” SO TRUE!

If Holy God plants within us, yes, the desire to even turn to Him and know Him, is it then because of our ‘fleshly ingenuity’ that we become capable to discern God’s will for us? And, I say to you, absolutely not! Flesh will misinterpret, limit, change, inspire, to fit into us what flesh wants, but the Holy Spirit of God, yes, “guides us into all truth”! In Romans 8:9-11 Paul instructs and inspires us about “Spirit-Anointed Living”! He said:

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he/she is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Oh, and then in Romans 8:14, Paul clearly spells out the EVIDENCE OF A TRUE SON OF GOD: “For as many as are led by the Spirit, these are sons of God.”

Do you remember when Jesus came and found the disciples sleeping? Mark 14:37 tells us Jesus said, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Peter was sure he’d never be made to stumble, but he did! But some believers are not aware of the mental construction of defensive walls against the powers of darkness wanting to invade you and infect you with “Satan’s brand of temptation”, alluring you away from a truly Christ-honoring walk!

Hear the wise man of Proverbs as he spoke in Proverbs 23:26-28! “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. For a harlot is a deep pit, and a seductress is a narrow well. She also lies in wait as for a victim, and increases the unfaithful among men.” Earlier, in Proverbs 6:27-29, the Holy Spirit says, “Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent.”

How do you receive and benefit from God’s “gift” of the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth or do you ignore the ministry of the Spirit? And knowing “Christ in you” is your hope of glory, abiding within you, how blind spiritually must you be to recklessly choose to indulge His “temple of grace” into your house of illicit activity? No “born again believer” lives without the Holy Spirit living within, but that doesn’t mean we’re automatically free from embarrassing Him! And since He does abide in every true born- again believer, is it that the Spirit is insensitive to the enemies’ spiritual warfare against those who want us in their darkness or us being ignorant ourselves to win the war against the demons or us just ‘stupid’ about what the Spirit longs to be and do for us?

“Misdemeanor minds in a felony world” or new hearts and lives birthed into the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and us “resting in Him” as our hope of glory, yes, against the fallen world, the failing flesh, and futile Satan and his demons? “Choose you this day whom you will serve!” And every day you need to make that choice! “Yes, Lord, I am Yours, and I have no desire to live indulging a misdemeanor mind in a felony world, but longing day by day to live in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ!”

A few fresh words just birthed: “Living in the Light of our Lord’s victorious Way, gone from the dark paths of sin that cause me to stray; Lord, no longer darkness for me, but the Light of Your eternal Day!

I now know the love of God perfected, Because I know it was for me He was resurrected; Grace once denied I now take to my side; and thanks to the Spirit who helps me abide!

Days in the flesh are only fleshly understood, Dark shadows bring demons to my mind covering my mind with a hood; But when the Spirit comes He comes to enlighten, to fade the night and spark the Day of Jesus’ Presence in His eternal Way.

Though stranded at times in stupid deception, the Spirit comes to show me the Loving Father’s reception; the Spirit is clear about God’s power to forgive, and the bright Day awaiting as to Jesus I bow.

Though disconsolate in spirit when to Jesus I bow, His faithful Word of mercy shows me how, that from the Light I’ve been straying, His love for me is never failing, and His Ship of Faith is ready for my sailing!

So, Holy Spirit, lead us all to pray, that from the darkness we may depart, and rest in peace before our Lord’s merciful heart. Spirit of God, empower us this day, and by Your power endue us with love never failing, with love excelling to honor our King.” AMEN?

Reinhard Bonnke made a very powerful statement that we ought to be repeating until it’s eternally settled in our minds and hearts: “GOD MEANS ME TO BE MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WAS!” What a challenge! And today we’re looking at “Double Portions – Dynamic Presence!” Because, remember Eccl 4:9, not only for marriage but MINISTRY! LISTEN: “Two are better than one, because they have a great, good reward for their labor…v.10, For if they fall, one will lift up his companion…”

Remember the TWO DISCIPLES on the Emmaeus Rd.? Lk. 24:32, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” TWO BURNING COALS PRODUCE MORE HEAT THAN ONE!

Amos 3:3 asks, “Can TWO walk together, unless they are agreed?” Zech. 4:3 speaks of two olive trees & then explains in verse 14, “These are the two anointed ones (two witnesses) who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”…& Mk. 6:7 tells us Jesus called the 12 to Him, &” began to send them out two by two, & gave them power over unclean spirits.”

Look at John 8:17-18, Jesus speaking: “It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true…I am One who bears witness of Myself, & the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.

It’s the first day of the week; resurrection has occurred; Mary entered the tomb; and what did she see? John 20:12 says: “And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head & the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.”……And what a THRILLING PROMISE in Matt. 18:20, “For where TWO or THREE are gathered together in My Name, I AM THERE IN THE MIDST OF THEM.”

And aren’t you glad there are TWO COVENANTS, one giving birth to bondage & death, and the other to freedom & life!! Gal. 4:24

Listen to Noah Webster’s definition of “DOUBLE”: “Twice as much; twice the number, sum, value, quantity or length…[he adds] – a sum of money doubles by compound interest in a little more than 11 years.”

To the church at Rome [Romans 5:9-10], Paul said, “MUCH MORE then, having now been justified by His blood, WE SHALL BE BEING SAVED FROM WRATH THROUGH HIM…” Verse 10, “Much More, having been reconciled, WE SHALL BE BEING SAVED BY HIS [CHRIST’s] LIFE.” THERE IS MUCH MORE!! “GOD MEANS ME TO BE MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WAS!”

There’s a theologian by the name of George Lindberg who has a book entitled “The Nature of Doctrine.” He writes: “A scriptural world is able to absorb the universe.” MUCH MORE!

I have no desire to be nominalized, but a “new creation”, being more than I ever thought I could be! I have no desire to be rationalized, but explained only as “the fullness of Him who fills all in all”! I have no desire to be ‘religionized’, but regenerated and resplendant because of re-birth,’ inheriting the fullness of Holy Ghost anointing!

Listen to Bonnke, [“Mighty Manifestations,” p.40], “The apostles discovered a new resilience, a new strength within them, a power that operated in their weakness and sent them out into a brutal world to demolish its idol establishment & change history. That is a true mark of the Spirit-filled LIFE.” “ God means me to be more than I thought I was!” GOD WANTS TO SEND US ALL OUT INTO A “Brutal World” and see lives, homes, histories changed to the glory of God! We Need “MUCH MORE,” We need “DOUBLE-PORTIONS”!

FIRST, THERE IS THE DOUBLED PORTION OF A DOUBLED BREASTPLATE OF HEART PROTECTION! Come to Exodus 39:8-9!! “And he made the breastplate, artistically woven like the workmanship of the ephod, of gold & blue& purple & scarlet thread, & fine linen thread..They MADE THE BREASTPLATE BY DOUBLING IT: a span was its length & a span its width when doubled.” [ A span? 9 inches.] WHAT’S GOING ON?

THE BREASTPLATE COVERED THE HEART!! Do you understand what our gracious Lord is telling us? Do you know what He is most concerned about? IT’S YOUR HEART!!…Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it?…Verse 10, “I, the Lord, SEARCH THE HEART…” In Jeremiah 17:5 He’d already spoken, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man & makes flesh his strength, WHOSE HEART DEPARTS FROM THE LORD…”

In Jeremiah 4:14 God calls out, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from your wickedness, THAT YOU MAY BE SAVED. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?” And do you notice – God’s not talking about your HEAD, but your HEART!

In Matt. 12:34 Jesus says, “…Out Of The ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART, THE MOUTH SPEAKS.” And what God said through Jeremiah was ‘OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART, THE MIND THINKS!!”…..In Matt 6:21, again, Jesus says, “For where your treasure is, there your HEART WILL BE ALSO.” WHAT DO YOU TREASURE?

HAVE YOU DOUBLE-BREASTED YOUR HEART? There’s a reason!! Matt.5:8 says, “Blessed are the PURE IN HEART, FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.”….PARENTS, have your children MEMORIZE Proverbs 4:23!! “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life.”…I MENTION 4 THINGS:

• DOUBLED BREASTPLATED HEART PROTECTION BEGINS WITH A NEW HEART! Ezekial 36:24-26, God speaking: “I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land…Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, [the Water of the Word!], & you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness & from all your idols…I will give you A NEW HEART & PUT A NEW SPIRIT WITHIN YOU; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh & give you a heart of flesh.” A HEART TENDER TO THE TRUTHS OF GOD!!
• DOUBLED BREASTPLATED HEART PROTECTION CONTINUES WITH A GUARDING COMMITMENT!! I Timothy

6:20 says, “O Timothy, Guard what was committed to your trust…” What does that mean? YOU STATION THE HONOR OF GOD AT THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART! YOU STATION THE HONOR OF YOUR SAVIOR & HIS GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AT THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART!

Spurgeon put it like this: “Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.” You older folks will remember Oscar Wilde, poet, actor, author, well-known for his humanist lifestyle, who wrote at the end of his disgraced life these words:….”The gods have given me almost everything, but I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless & sensual ease. Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search of a new sensation…I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character…I allowed pleasure to dominate me, & I ended in horrible disgrace.”

• DOUBLED BREASTED HEART PROTECTION FLOURISHES WHEN I KNOW GOD SEES ALL THAT I THOUGHT I’D HIDDEN IN MY HEART! Psalm 44:21…”…GOD KNOWS THE SECRETS OF THE HEART…”..Enough said!
• DOUBLED BREASTPLATED HEART PROTECTION IS MAXIMIZED WHEN I LEARN SPIRIT-CONTROLLED LIVING NOT FLESHLY MANIPULATIONS! Gal. 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, & you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Do you know SPIRIT-CONTROLLED LIVING?

SECOND, I WANT YOU TO SEE THE DOUBLE PORTION OF DOUBLED-DEVOTION OF HEART MINISTRY! Deu 15:12-18 says, “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed; you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. And if it happens that he says to you., ‘I will not go away from you’, because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a Double-Hired Servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.” Are you a “doubled-hired servant” to the glory of God? Has your love for Christ Jesus become so rich that you’ve been “marked” or “branded”? Are you God’s servant forever?

I was reading Derek Prince this week in his book “Experiencing God’s Power.” [pps 126-127]: “For 25 years I searched for something permanent & satisfying in poetry, philosophy, and the world, with all its pleasures & intellectual challenges. The more I looked, the less satisfied I became. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. However, when the Lord revealed Himself to me & baptized me in the Holy Spirit, I knew instantly that this is what I’d been seeking all the time…God poured into my heart an overwhelming love that finally, completely satisfied me.” What is this “DOUBLED-DEVOTION OF HEART MINISTRY”?

1)IT’S THE DOUBLED-DEVOTION OF THE HEART MINISTRY OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVED! “As He is..So Am I!” Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners CHRIST DIED FOR US.”

2)IT’S THE DOUBLED-DEVOTION OF THE HEART MINISTRY OF UNCHANGING LOVE! “As He is..So Am I!” I Cor. 13:4, “Love suffers long, & is kind…”

3) DOUBLED-DEVOTION OF THE HEART MINISTRY OF UNENDING LOVE! “As He is..So Am I!” John 13:1 says, “..having loved His own who were in the world, HE LOVED THEM TO THE END!” In Jesus’ HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER, John 17:26, Jesus said, “And I have declared to them Your name, & will declare it, THAT THE LOVE WITH WHICH YOU LOVED ME MAY BE IN THEM, & I IN THEM.”……It was just after Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet. In John 13:34-35, He said: “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another…BY THIS (Not an awl in the ear, but the awl in the heart!!) ALL WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, if you have love for one another.”

DOUBLE-PORTION LOVE is so much more than TOLERATION – TRIUMPHANT SPIRIT OF THE CROSS! DOUBLE-PORTION LOVE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A CHARACTERISTIC – IT’S THE VERY CHARACTER OF CHRIST IN YOU! DOUBLE-PORTION LOVE is so much more than a temporary ray of light – it’s the ETERNAL SON OF THE SOUL & HEART! DOUBLE-PORTION LOVE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A RESEMBLANCE OR A REFLECTION OF GOD – IT’s THE REALITY OF HOLY PRESENCE RULING IN YOUR HEART! DOUBLE-PORTION LOVE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A LINK IN THE CHAIN OF GOD-RELATEDNESS – IT’S THE GOLDEN CHAIN THAT CONNECTED US TO THE VERY HEART OF GOD! DOUBLE-PORTION LOVE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN CHEAP IMITATIONS – IT’S THE CROWN JEWELS OF THE INDWELLING, OVERFLOWING, ABIDING LIFE IN & OF CHRIST ALONE!

DON’T TELL ME YOU LOVE SOMEBODY WHEN OUT OF YOUR MOUTH FLOWS BITTERNESS, RESENTMENT, & UNFORGIVENESS! Do you remember what Paul said to the church at Colossae? [Col. 3:14] “But above all these things, PUT ON LOVE WHICH IS THE BOND OF PERFECTION.” Do you want to be perfected? Are you being perfected? Will you allow yourself to be perfected?

THIRD: THE DOUBLE-PORTION OF HEAVEN”S ANOINTING!! 2 Kings 2:7-15, DON’T MISS THIS!! “And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went & stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them [Elijah & Elisha] stood by the Jordan. Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way & that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?’ Elisha said, ‘Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.’ So he said, ‘You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.’ Then it happened, as they continued & talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, ‘My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!’ So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back & stood by the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?’ And when he also struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.’ And they came to meet him & bowed to the ground before him.”

The Double Portion of Heavens Anointing? 1) It was because of a SENSE OF NEED IN HIMSELF – and Elisha HUMBLED HIMSELF! “If God is going to accomplish through me what He did through you, because of my own emptiness, ineptness, impotence, weakness, nothingness, IT WILL TAKE TWICE AS MUCH OF GOD’S ANOINTING! 2)Because of a SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY, SEEING THE WORLD AROUND ME – The world isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. Men are not more enlightened – there’s a greater deception! The opposition doesn’t grow weaker – it gets stronger! Oh…Oh…!! And I do want to be a WORLD-CHANGER! I don’t want to see things altered – I WANT THEM REDEEMED & TRANSFORMED! I NEED A DOUBLE PORTION! 3) AND BECAUSE OF A SENSE OF RECOGNITION THAT GOD IS NOT LIMITED BY WHAT HE DOES THROUGH ONE MAN, like Elijah, I offer Him my life to be an extension of His Life, an expression of His love, and the proof of His power…THROUGH ME! HERE I AM, Lord!……….4)Because of a SENSE OF REFLECTION! Elisha didn’t want to be a man honored among the fellow prophets – his passion was he wanted to be recognized as “A HOLY MAN OF GOD!” 2 Peter 1:21 explains Elisha’s understanding: “prophecy never came by the will of man, BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”…..No one understood John 6:63 more than Elisha: There Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives LIFE: THE FLESH PROFITS NOTHING…”

“Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you!” And Elisha said, “Please, let a DOUBLE PORTION of YOUR SPIRIT be upon me.” And what did 2 Kings 2:15 say? “The spirit of Elijah rests on ELISHA!!”……”Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! HOLD O’ER MY BEING ABSOLUTE SWAY! [Does that sound like DOUBLE-PORTION ANOINTING? Absolute Sway! Full Surrender! Mighty Rivers Flowing! Mighty Winds Blowing! Mighty Fires Burning!] ..”Fill with Your Spirit till ALL shall see CHRIST ONLY, ALWAYS, LIVING IN ME!”

FOURTH, THE DOUBLE PORTION OF HEAVEN’S BLESSINGS!! **Isaiah 61:1-7!! “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness [or depression]; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.’ And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand & feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, they shall call you the servants of God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have Double Honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.”……HAVE YOU CLAIMED EPHESIANS 1:3 as your own possession? “Blessed be the God & Father of our LJX, who has BLESSED US with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”………WEBSTER: “Blessed?” ENJOYING SPIRITUAL HAPPINESS & THE FAVOR OF GOD; enjoying HEAVENLY FELICITY [happiness or rather great happiness;] Blessedness; Blissfulness, appropriately the joys of Heaven.” WOW!…….Sir Thomas Browne [Religio Medici] prayed: “Bless me in this life with but peace of my conscience, command of my affections, the love of Yourself & my dearest friends, & I shall be happy enough to pity Caesar.”………..In Hamlet, Shakespeare penned these words: “A double blessing is a double grace.”…..”AMAZING GRACE!!!” [Deu. 28:2-12!]

FIFTH, THE DOUBLE PORTION OF HEAVEN’S RESTORATIONS!! Zech. 9:9-12, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly & riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” I will cut off the chariot of Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth….As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. RETURN TO THE STRONGHOLD, you prisoners of hope, even today I declare that I will restore double to you.”

There has to be RESTORATION because of a DESTRUCTIVE INVASION by the powers of darkness, RESTORATION because of a STEALING, a THEFT OF WHAT GOD INTENDED FOR YOUR LIFE, FOR THIS CHURCH….RESTORATION because of a violation against DIVINE INTENT….RESTORATION because of the MARRING, SCARRING, & THE STRIPPING!

God moved on the prophet Joel [1:11-12], “Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat & the barley; BECAUSE THE HARVEST OF THE FIELD HAS PERISHED (or rotted)…the vine has dried up, the fig tree has withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm also, & the apple tree – all the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.” ..END OF MESSAGE! RIGHT? HOPELESS! RIGHT? NO POSSIBILITY OF RECOVERY! RIGHT?….WRONG!!

Joel 2:25-27, “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, & the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you…You shall eat in plenty & be satisfied, & praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; & My people shall never be put to shame…”

There’s an interesting part of a verse in Psalm 17:3. It says, “YOU HAVE VISITED ME IN THE NIGHT…” It’s talking about God visiting us in those dark nights of the soul

IT’S A DARK NIGHT when we’ve BEEN SPIRITUALLY ROBBED! A DARK NIGHT when one rebels! A DARK NIGHT when you RUN & HIDE FROM GOD! When you renounce God’s calling upon your life – “I CALLED & YOU REFUSED!”…When you HAVE NO REST FOR THE SOUL!…WHEN YOU MAKE A POOR EXCHANGE & LOSE YOUR SOUL! When you SETTLE FOR THE TEMPORAL & NOT THE ETERNAL! When you’ve GIVEN SIN THE RIGHT TO RAVAGE YOUR SOUL, FAMILY, or FUTURE! HOW TRAGIC! HOW DEVASTATING!

BUT, what does God’s Word say? “IN THE NIGHT…GOD HAS VISITED ME, US!” “He came to seek & to save that which is lost!” “He came to the midst of our mired-ness, bringing us out of a horrible pit, setting our feet on the Rock of Christ, establishing our steps, & giving us a new song to sing…”….”He came to our darkness & led us to His Light!”…”He came to our bondage & gave us His new liberty!” “He came to the night-ness of our nothingness & graciously granted to us His ALL IN ALL!” [Romans 8:31-39]

SIXTH, THE DOUBLE PORTION OF HEAVEN’S HONOR!! I’m going to read I Timothy 5:17 as it is & then paraphrase it. LISTEN: “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of DOUBLE HONOR; especially those who labor in the word & doctrine.”….Paraphrased:…”Let the [MATURE IN CHRIST] who [REIGN IN LIFE THROUGH CHRIST] be counted worthy of DOUBLE HONOR…”

Without hesitation, this ought to be every disciple’s passion; it ought to be the DRIVING AMBITION that shapes everything that we do or say!!…In 2 Cor. 5:9 Paul said: “Therefore WE MAKE IT OUR AIM, whether present or absent, TO BE WELL PLEASING TO OUR LORD.”…Is that the CRY OF YOUR HEART?

To Timothy [2 Timothy 2:15], Paul said, “BE DILIGENT to present yourself APPROVED TO GOD, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”….Diligence for a DOUBLE PORTION of Heaven’s Honor!…..I Corinthians 9:23-27 says, “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body & bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached, testified, to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

I don’t have to tell you of the 5, 2, or 1 talent parable that Jesus told us about. But I do need to remind you, or ask you, or challenge you: “What’s your SPIRITUAL AMBITION?”…SIMPLE ACCEPTANCE OR CHRIST-HONORING EXALTATION? SIMPLE ENTRANCE OR CHRIST-HONORING ELEVATION?…TAKE THE TALENT FROM HIM OR “WELL DONE, GOOD & FAITHFUL SERVANT”?

It was Frank Gaines who said: “Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.”..I ASK YOU: ARE YOUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS or are you walking around with double vision? Double vision gets you nothing but singular vision, focused on Christ, gives you the DOUBLE PORTION OF HEAVEN’S HONOR……So the writer of Hebrews challenges us: Hebrews 12:2-3, “looking unto Jesus, the author & finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, LEST YOU BECOME WEARY & DISCOURAGED IN YOUR SOULS.”

Steve Farrar in “Finishing Strong,” [p.199], said: “In order to finish strong, we must have vision. Vision for what is really important, vision for what our kids really need, & the vision to STEEL OURSELVES against the strategies of the enemy to destroy everything near & dear to our hearts.” [2 Samuel 23:8-12]

IT WILL NOT HAPPEN – WE REST IN CHRIST ALONE; WE LAY HOLD OF GOD ON HIS THRONE; WE YIELD TO THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD!!!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, October 9-10, 2017

In Psalm 19:1 King David sang, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” But is there a “sense of awe” in most men around you about what Almighty God has done and still does in and through His “awesome”, never-ending power, or are most men around you content with themselves in their, yes, pride and arrogance of ‘self-achievement’, many living as if God doesn’t even exist, or if He does, “What does He matter to me”?

The author of Proverbs, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote in Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.” Later, in Proverbs 13:18, we read, “Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards a rebuke will be honored.” There are men, even ‘leaders’ (?) in nations, who see themselves wiser than God Almighty and reject Biblical Truth, and ‘entertain’ denial of God’s fountain of life, and drink from the dirty, clouded waters of fleshly living rather than receiving, yes, His gift of forgiveness, new birth, reconciliation, and a life of ministry in the here and now with eternal intentions through His “Living Water”!

In Proverbs 16:18 we read: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Oh, and then receive Proverbs 19:3! It says, “The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart frets against the Lord.” Foolish men! Fretting Hearts! Fleshly spirits! And unbelieving men think they’ve arrived without any need of God?

There’s such an emotional, elevating, energizing word in Joshua 1 with the Lord speaking to Joshua telling him, Joshua 1:2-9, “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them – the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.

From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Do you think Joshua 1:2-9 relates to the ‘spirit’ of Ephesians 2:8-10? Paul’s writing says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” AMEN?

“NO PRIDE BUT AWE”? Some say, “Well, whether Joshua or Paul, we’re just ordinary, sin-controlled individuals, strongly influenced by the world around us, at times even enjoying the ‘fruits’ of our self-centered natures! How then can we be ‘religious’ without the best-efforts our flesh nature can get under control?” And, I say, to even try to control what you are without Christ will not make the difference even if you determine to try! Christ Jesus crucified what we all were without Him, in bondage to the sin-nature, strongly influenced by an unbelieving world around us, and, yes, even deceived by Satan himself!

In Romans 6:5-7 the Holy Word is eternally true and clear and relevant as you read about “No Pride But Awe”! It says: “For IF we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, KNOWING THIS, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” WERE YOU CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, or is your religious persuasion to be one who enjoys a little bit of both lives – the old and the new, not freed from sin but able to enjoy it temporarily, the best of the ‘kingdom of the world and its darkness’, AND, the best of the ‘kingdom of Christ as I sense a religious urge’?

Look at Romans 6:1-4 Paul wrote: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism (of the Cross! Not water-baptism!) into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

And if that “newness of life” is not Christ’s resurrected presence but your best effort, you’ve bought into a great religious lie that destroys understanding in many about the need to be reconciled to God through Christ! It may be a ‘strange crowd’ to the world around you, but those who deny ‘fleshly pride’ and live IN AWE of God’s love, grace, and mercy don’t live any longer under sin and Satan’s dominion over them but live under, through, and by the marvelous grace and mercy of their loving Lord and Savior!

In John 10:7-11, and Verse 14, the Lord Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep….Verse 14, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

Have YOU ‘entered’ the Kingdom of God under the sponsorship of Christ alone? Have YOU “rested” IN Christ’s finished work at the Cross AND at the door of the ‘empty tomb’? Have YOU received God’s gift also of the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, mature you from a babe in Christ to a mature son or daughter of the faith? Are YOU led by the Spirit to be Christ’s “witness” to the lost and needy mankind around you day by day in the positive witness of His love and mercy for those you care about? Has the Holy Spirit illumined your mind and heart day by day to, yes, “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”?

Are there true evidences unveiling true disciples of Christ? Oh, I certainly think so! And it goes beyond one’s ‘church membership’! Receive the word of Brother John who wrote in 1 John 3:4-9, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He (Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. (That’s ‘present tense, continuous action’!). Whoever sins (present tense continuous action) has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous. He who sins (and keeps on sinning!) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever HAS BEEN BORN OF GOD DOES NOT SIN (and keep on sinning!), for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” Praise the Lord!

But, be assured, the call of Christ to avoid sin, AND ‘sin not’, does not mean we will not be tempted by Satan and his evil armies to turn one away from following Christ! In Hebrews 4:14-16 the author of Hebrews wrote: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us THEREFORE come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Very interesting word in 2 Corinthians 6:12 when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, some there compromising the Truth and willfully sinning, “You are not restricted by us (the apostles), but you are restricted by your own affections”, which means some ‘professing Christians’ there in Corinth find it so easy to ‘profess faith’ in Christ as they willfully yielded to the sin nature of their old man! (Of course, we don’t have to be concerned about that today! Right?) Times never change, neither the paths some “professing Christians” choose to walk in or, yes, the paths some ‘pastors’ tell them that their sin is OK since they were baptized and joined the church. Really? (Afraid so!). “No Pride But Awe?”

Is it humanly possible, void of the Holy Spirit’s presence to “guide us into all truth,” that some supposedly ‘in the faith’ today, living in fleshly, spiritual pride in themselves, choose to deny the Holy Word about what Jesus declared about ‘sin’ and what He declared about “true holiness”? In Hebrews 9:12 we read: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but WITH HIS OWN BLOOD He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION.” Notice also Verse 14! “…how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” That, my friend, IS awe!

HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION was that so you could continue ‘bowing to your sin nature’ as you professed faith in Christ, OR was it commitment to His Word, “Go and sin no more?” Hebrews 3:1-6 instructs true believers saying: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, WHOSE HOUSE WE ARE IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

“The rejoicing of hope firm to the end?” In Colossians 1 Paul heightened the awareness of the “true saints” of their spiritual inheritance “in Christ”, saying in Verse 27-28, “To them God willed to make known WHAT ARE THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY AMONG THE GENTILES: which is CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Oh, and in Colossians 2:6-10, Paul, again, was so inspired to see every true believer understanding what it means to be “one with Christ”! He said: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For IN HIM dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.” “NO PRIDE BUT AWE?”

Don’t you find it mind-boggling that Jesus Himself said in John 5:30, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, BECAUSE I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” Does Jesus then say, “So send I YOU”? And whose will do you seek? Your will or the will of your Savior and Lord? “No Pride But AWE?”

Are YOU “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”? Have you been made complete, because of your repentance toward God and faith only In Christ’s finished work through His shed blood at Calvary’s Cross? Are YOU the receiver of the gift of eternal life in Christ? Are you complete in Him lacking nothing? Are you more than conqueror in Christ? Have you passed from spiritual death into the free gift of everlasting life? Is YOUR ‘Christian faith’ YOUR paths of spiritual achievements or “Christ in you the hope of glory”?

Christians are not ‘burden bearers’ like Christ Jesus, but they know before Whom to bow in intercession for others, encouraging Christ to intercede for their friends as He did for them! Christians are not those ‘assuming’ to be something they are not, but are men and women who know, yield to, and surrender to the only “Lord and Savior and Redeemer of the Blood Atonement”!

Christians ARE NOT individuals who live with past-determined creeds by ‘self-introspective scholars’ (?), but men and women who live by the “resurrection Presence, Promises, and Power of the Indwelling Christ”! It was Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his writing, “Aids to Reflection: Aphorisms”, who wrote: “He who loves Christianity better than Truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.” Coleridge also wrote: “Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living presence.”

Henry Blackaby, in “The Power of the Call,” (p.229), wrote: “The credentials of a spiritual leader (or true disciple) is the presence of God, AT ALL POINTS AUTHENTICATING HIS SERVANT (CHRIST JESUS who said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give My life a ransom for many.”).” Don’t you find it so amazing?

A “zero” becomes a cup of LIFE overflowing with the presence of God! A “zero” becomes a VESSEL in which Holy God pours in blessing after blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive full understanding of all His blessings in and through His Son’s presence in YOU! A “zero” overcome by his emptiness becomes a container full of the joy of the Lord which is his strength. A “zero” void of the love of God becomes the vacuum in which the deep fullness of God’s love flows without measure. A “zero” drunk with the wines excessive in self-importance all of a sudden becomes “filled with the Holy Spirit of God and His fruit. A “zero” empty of faith all of a sudden comes to a “perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

John 1:16 tells us, “and of Christ’s fullness have we all received, and grace for grace.” Question in closing! “Do YOU live in, by, and for the God-anointed SURE AND ALL-SUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION PRESENCE IN YOU?”

“EVANGELISM – THE CALL OF

EVERY DISCIPLE”

BY J. FARRELL FISHER

Acts 1:8, Jesus speaking, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Oswald Chambers: “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.179], “Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a center for Jesus Christ to pour living water through.”

INTRODUCTION

Nearing 78 years of age on June 12, 2014, I’ve had a lot of time lately to reflect upon my life’s journey. It’s been amazing to me to see the hand of God and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus on my life, my marriage, my family, and my ministry mission.

After pastoring churches from 1963 to about 1985, our Lord graciously directed and led me into world-wide ministry, from Brazil in the mid-1970’s to a new door of ministry primarily in India from about 1983 to about 2008 – 25 years of traveling 3-5 times a year from 3 weeks to 3 months, ministering the Word to pastors, outdoor crusades, and weekend Youth –evangelism outreach.

It was November, 1998, when I had an accident at our home in Belton, Texas, as I had decided to trim a tree over our driveway, spreading over and onto our garage roof. Using the power saw I had cut through a very large limb and was about to get off the ladder and pull the limb down – but the limb snapped, fell quickly to the concrete driveway, bounced against the ladder, and I fell hard and fast onto my driveway breaking my left arm and driving it up through my shoulder, destroying the joint. Sue thought I was dead!

That began a long journey that’s not over with yet. Three or four years ago I had to have four left shoulder replacements in five weeks, attempting to get the new “French reverse joint” to work in me and relieve the pain of collapsing ligaments, tendons, and nerves. It’s now the end of April, 2014, and I’m ‘OK’ with my new left shoulder. Beginning in September, 2012, I started another ‘journey’ – double-knee replacements. December 3, 2012, I had double-hip replacements – [some have asked if it’s all from my high school and collegiate football days at Baylor]. I think my “outward man is perishing,” but my inner man is renewed day by day – and there are, at least for me, no sorrows in my inner man, but I guarantee you I’ve lived with a lot of pain in the outer man! And then, April 28, 2013, I had the “widow-maker” – a massive heart-attack with the emergency room physician saying, “Get him out of here to surgery – he’s got 45 minutes to an hour to live.” My major artery was 100% closed with a large blood clot behind the blockage ready to go to my heart and kill me instantly. It was 8:30pm that Saturday night and my heart surgeon was there, I’m sure on the orders from God Almighty, if he understood or not. It was a miracle of grace. I was dismissed on Tuesday morning to go home!!

In my first few months after the heart-event, I wrote two new books in about a three-month period! Now, it’s the end of April, 2014, and Holy God has stirred my heart dramatically! The new book is being birthed – “Evangelism – The Call of Every Disciple.” I pray it blesses you, convicts you, enlightens you, informs you, and instills within you a passion to share your faith in Christ with those around you who live without Him. Be brave, be bold, be caring, be prepared – BE A WITNESS OF OUR LORD’S SAVING GRACE!

Again, it was Oswald Chambers who said: “Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus.” Are you at peace concerning your witness? Is it an unfathomable peace for you?

OUTLINE

CHAPTER ONE: “EVANGELISM – GOOD NEWS PROCLAMATION”

CHAPTER TWO: “EVANGELISM – BY OVERFLOWING COMPASSION”

CHAPTER THREE: “EVANGELISM – THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RELEASE”

CHAPTER FOUR: “EVANGELISM – BLIND FAITH”

CHAPTER FIVE: “EVANGELISM – THE CHURCH’S MAJOR MINISTRY”

CHAPTER SIX: “EVANGELISM – GOD’S ETERNAL INTENTION”

CHAPTER SEVEN: “EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OF A NEEDY WORLD”

CHAPTER EIGHT: “EVANGELISM- BECAUSE OF THE CALL FROM HURTING PEOPLE”

CHAPTER NINE: “EVANGELISM – UNVEILING OUR LORD AND SAVIOR”

CHAPTER TEN: “EVANGELISM – THE GIFT OF PEACE FOR A TROUBLED WORLD “

CHAPTER ELEVEN: “EVANGELISM: ANGELIC REJOICING”

CHAPTER TWELVE: “EVANGELISM – HOLY SPIRIT ANOINTING”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: “EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OF A WORLD CULTURE CAPTURED BY SATAN”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: “EVANGELISM – BECAUSE DRY BONES ARE LIFELESS”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: “EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OUR GOD IS MILITANT!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: “EVANGELISM – BECAUSE EYES ARE BLIND, EARS ARE DEAF, AND MINDS COLD!”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: “EVANGELISM – BECAUSE THE KING OF GLORY COMES SOON!”

CONCLUSION:

CHAPTER ONE

EVANGELISM – “GOOD NEWS PROCLAMATION”

I often wonder if modern-day “church members” have the slightest understanding of what “good news proclamation” is all about! It’s as if for them modern day evangelism is a myth apart from any meaning or relevance to their supposed “walk with Christ.”

Is identity with Christ a private matter that has no public relevance? Is oneness with the Lord and Savior void of inner activity with a “lost” and “dying” world around them? As long as “I” am saved and assured of an eternal relationship and heavenly home forever in the “family” of God, what difference does it make to those outside the family? Are they really my responsibility?

I am baffled by a group of believers that senses no obligation to “reach the lost” with saving grace. I am confused when “pastors” have no sense of urgency about community, state, national, or world evangelism. I am so disturbed when bodies of professing believers all across our nation have never implemented, supplemented, prayed for, activated, instituted, day by day, week by week, “touching our world with grace, mercy, and love.”

Are true New Testament church relationships to be void of impacting the world around them as long as they’re “faithful to one another”? Is a valid member of the Body of Christ excused from sharing the faith with unbelievers as long as he/she is faithful with his/her tithes and offerings to the local church of which he/she is a part? Is “salt” in one’s profession of faith to be preserved for one’s self or poured out where “salt” is truly needed?

“Good news” – but never told or shared with another? “Good news” – but never announced to a needy friend or family member? “Good news” – but mute to an empty, Godless, perishing world around one’s circle of influence? “Good news” – but void of any sense of personal responsibility to even those one loves the most? “Good news” – but blind to those who are blind themselves to the love, grace, and mercy of God? “Good news” – but content that the “lost” are on their own, “not MY responsibility”? “Good news” – but unaffected by one’s awareness that those without Christ will be eternally separated from the God of love because His love couldn’t, didn’t, wouldn’t flow through you?

“Evangelism – Good News Proclamation”! “Evangelism – Good News Reconciliation to Holy God”! “Evangelism – Good News Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Oneness with the God who made us, lost us, reconciled us to Himself by His own sacrifice”! “Evangelism – Good News participation in His Eternal Plan”! “Evangelism – Good News Discovery of who we are in Him through His shed blood”! “Evangelism – Good News Understanding that God loves us, wants us, and needs us to share with Him in His love for our world”!

Do you see yourself as an extension of His Life, as an expression of His love, and as the proof of His power, to touch the world around you and see God signing His name on others through you? Or is your opinion about yourself such that God sponsors a losing cause if He chooses to “save” the world around you through your witness? If you haven’t learned it yet, man, woman, boy or girl, if you were the only one who had ever lived up until now, what Jesus did 2000 years ago, He did it just for you! God wants you to be His “Master-piece”! God wants you, in and through Christ Jesus, to be His true “symphony of praise” and “thanksgiving” because of what He is able to do through a surrendered vessel in His hands!

I don’t know how you view Genesis, but I see it as “The Beginning of Unveiled Purposes” out of the very heart of God Himself. Abram and Sarai had been in “Haran”, the place of the dead – a charred, parched, burned up, barren, dry land. [That’s where the most of humanity is housed today in our modern day of human expectation!]

But in Genesis 12:2 the Lord said to Abram [just as He does personally to you in this very moment!], “I will make YOU a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing…Verse 3, …and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Verse 4, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him…”

Has the Lord spoken to you? Of course He has! Our God is no respecter of persons! What He said to Abram He has said to you! Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” The promise? “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” But the question is, will you depart and do as the Lord has spoken to you?

I don’t know how you view the Book of Acts but I see it as the New Testament introduction to true discipleship! I call it: “The Master’s Mandate of Meaningful Ministry,” or “The Father’s Faith, Following, and Future,” or “The Final Chapter of a Disciple’s Calling”, or “The Family of Faith and Their Fulfilling Fight.”

But you? Me? Us? How can God Himself accomplish through us what He did through them? And Acts 1:8 tells us, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Please notice: It’s not our abilities but our availability to God’s Holy Spirit who anoints us and empowers us to be our Lord’s witnesses!

But then Peter carries us a step further when in I Peter 3:15 he wrote: “But sanctify [or set apart] the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…”

Holy Spirit anointing, personal availability, a sensitivity of opportunity, intentional evangelism, a willingness to speak up, speak out, speak to, trusting our angels to lead us, led by the Holy Spirit! Isn’t that Acts 8:29 when the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” And the Word says, “So Philip ran to him.” [Who have you been running to lately because the Holy Spirit prompted you?]

Philip obeyed, and Acts 8:35 tells us, Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.

Acts 9 really unveils for us divine potential for any man. Look with me at Acts 9:10-20, “Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”… Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”…But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”…Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some time with the disciples at Damascus…Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that He is the Son of God.”

And as a result of the act of obedience, what is to happen? In Acts 2:47 we read, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Are people “being saved” “daily” our true spiritual heartbeat?

“Evangelism – Good News Proclamation”!! I’m always amazed that some are so blind and deaf to the reality of amazing grace that God, YES, God Himself, can heal the lame, open blind eyes, blot out the blackness of a sinful heart, and make someone a new person – and they refuse to believe! The sad truth is: THEY DON”T WANT TO BE TURNED AWAY FROM THEIR SIN AND INIQUITY!

It was Peter who said in Acts 3:16-23, “And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, [“Good News Proclamation”!!] that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” “Good news” – but they settle for sad news because they are so in love with their sin and their iniquity!

In verse 26 of Acts 3 Peter said, “To you, first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” But that’s not ‘glad news’ but “sad news” when one loves his iniquities more than he loves the God of “Good News”!

I have no hesitation in saying to you that naked truth shared to a darkened heart and soul can cut one in pieces and turn him to saving grace and mercy! Listen to Acts 2:36-39!! “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, THEY WERE CUT TO THE HEART, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, [and because you truly repent], let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” You do understand that it was YOUR SIN that nailed Jesus to the Cross! And it’s your heart-felt repentance that births ‘remission of sins’, not water baptism! Water baptism is testimony of one’s death, burial, and resurrection in Christ to eternal life.

“Evangelism – Good News Proclamation!” Do you see repentant men receiving “the gift of the Holy Spirit”? Right before Jesus’ bodily ascension into Heaven Luke 24: 45-49 says: “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses to these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

God “opened their minds,” He “opened their hearts,” He “opened their eyes” to sense eternal things concerning world redemption, He “opened their very beings” to sense and receive the capacity of fullness in The Spirit realm – “endued with power from on high.”

“Evangelism – Good News Proclamation!” Do you see YOUR calling? 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” Do you remember in Genesis 24:27 where the man said to Rebecca, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken God’s mercy and God’s truth toward my master. As for me, being in the way… the Lord led me..”

And as our Lord’s ambassador, His earthly, appointed, anointed, empowered representative, we are to be “in the way, led by our Lord,” discovering the divine opportunities of sharing our faith in Him with others! I love Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.236], speaking of “the intuitive jar” as the inner admonitions of the abiding Holy Spirit guiding us to those He is concerned about. If according to Romans 8:16 the Spirit “bears witness with our Spirit,” then, as true disciples, we must learn to whom the Holy Spirit leads us. Listen to Chambers:

“The Spirit of God witnesses to the Redemption of our Lord, He does not witness to anything else; He cannot witness to our reason. The simplicity that comes from our natural common-sense decisions is apt to be mistaken for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of Redemption, never to our reason. If we try to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder we are in darkness and perplexity. Fling it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give the witness.”

In Ephesian 6 Paul tells us about putting on the whole armor of God even praying ‘always’ ‘in the Spirit’, and especially, verse 19, “for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, verse 20, FOR WHICH I AM AN AMBASSADOR IN CHAINS; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Certainly it was literal for Paul – he was behind prison bars – but you and I are an ambassador “chained to Christ” – and all around us is a world of people in bondage to themselves and their sin who need to be set free.

“Evangelism – Good News Proclamation!” But do you understand, do you realize, do you comprehend, that one can so shroud or cover his professing faith that no one around him has discovered his ‘devotion’ to Christ Jesus? Is faith in God to be hidden in dark shadows so no one appears responsible in sharing his ‘faith’? Is redemptive faith so strange to you that to share it with others would mark you as a “looney-tunie”?!?

In John 17:1-4 Jesus speaks: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

Do you see it, sense it, celebrate it, appropriate it? “I, number one common disciple, have finished the work you assigned me to carry out”! Jesus said on one occasion that He came into our world to “bear witness to the truth” – but you have a different purpose?

I love Acts 4:33, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” Do you long for great grace on all of your church family? Do you passionately long for great power on all of your church believers? If you’re not aware of it, I’ll tell you: Spiritual battles for the souls of men are lost or won on the “plains” of divine will, never in the pews of spiritual satisfaction void of eternal intent. “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

Is there a travailing spirit in you for the salvation of lost souls around you? Or is there a cloud of illusion covering your mind, heart, and spirit, creating within you an aching abyss of absence of the love of the Lord Jesus for lost souls for whom He died? Are we gripped by a worldly independent oneness or have we, because we are now “in Christ,” become spiritually governed by His sacrificial spirit in laying down His life to touch others with His grace through us? Peter wrote in I Peter 4:13 that we should “rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” Is there gladness in your heart because, governed by the Spirit of Christ within you, lives are touched for Christ and you are eternally blessed?

Oh, I know there is a “war”! Revelation 17:14 tells us: “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are CALLED, CHOSEN, and FAITHFUL.” But far too often the “war” is an inward war concerning will: Will I witness or will I not witness? In I Corinthians 9:16 Paul wrote: “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”

I don’t know how you look upon Paul’s letter to the Galatians, but I call it “The Gospel of Faith, Freedom, Fullness, and Fruit.” In Galatians 1:15-16a, Paul said, “But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…” Biblical fruit is a life you touch in God’s faith, giving freedom, fullness, and the very fruit of the Indwelling Christ! Do people around you glorify God because of the redemptive faith they witness and hear from you?

I would ask you: Does the love of Christ compel or constrain you to touch others with His love, grace, and mercy? Are you a “poured out drink offering”? Have you willingly, day by day, gone to the altar as a willing sacrifice for Jesus?

In Matthew 10:27 hear Jesus!! “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on housetops.”

Let me close with words again from Oswald Chambers: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.33], “You shall be My witnesses.” How many of us are willing to spend every ounce of nervous energy, of mental, moral, and spiritual energy we have for Jesus Christ? That is the meaning of a “witness” in God’s sense of the word. It takes time, be patient with yourself. God has left us on earth – what for? To be saved and sanctified? No, to be at it for Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured out wine for Him? To be spoiled for this age, for this life, to be spoiled from every standpoint but one – saving as I can disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life as a worker is the way I say “thank you” to God for His unspeakable salvation. Remember it is quite possible for any one of us to be flung out as reprobate silver – “…lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Are you a spiritual sluggard or a strong saint sharing the Way of salvation? Is it self-realization for you or self-abandonment to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for your life and walk and witness as a disciple of Christ? Do you live your church life in the spirit of self-vindication or yielded to the Lord of your life in full surrender or as Moffatt interpreted James 1:4, “Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.”

Are we ‘victims’ or witnesses? Are we aimless disciples or ambassadors of Christ? Are we silent ‘sinning’ believers or sounding-off singers of saving faith? Are we ‘self-controlled’ or Spirit-prodded?

Are we to adapt to fleshly nations and peoples or announce the remedy to misguided leadership and follow-ship? Are we deaf to the heart-cries of the aimless or alert to the voice of the Holy Spirit to reach out and touch our lost and dying world?

Has God ‘reasoned’ with you about your walk or REVEALED YOUR HOLY CALLING AS A BIBLICAL EVANGELIST?

It was Benjamin Franklin who once said: “If passion drives you let reason hold the reins.” Is it ‘reason’ or revelation that holds the reins for your walk and witness?

Remember, our Lord said, “Follow Me, and I will make you to become ‘fishers of men’!” How about examining your fishing string of late!?!

CHAPTER TWO

EVANGELISM – OVERFLOWING COMPASSION

IT’S THE DIVINE DESIGN

It’s an amazing, shocking, awakening word when you read Jesus’ response to some who “believed” in Him as you read John 2:23-25! It says: “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man.”

Belief in a miracle, a miracle even by Jesus Himself, is not a sign of “saving grace and mercy.” Oh, our Lord and Savior is so merciful, so kind, and so able to save by His amazing grace, but evangelism occurs by an awareness in one’s mind and heart of His overflowing compassion, seen in His sacrificial death on the Cross in our place – not because He heals, not because they “observed His signs,” but because of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ alone at Calvary as He bled and died in our place!

Jesus said, “Come unto Me” in Matthew 11:28 – and that’s our beginning point. Some think they came unto Jesus because they’re in a church every single Sunday. He said, “Come unto Me,” and every disciple, every church, every denomination should be coming unto, into, through Christ’s compassionate HEART and His compassionate being, and His compassionate ways.

Difficult words from the lips of Jesus are exactly what most need to hear because some have determined their ‘rightness’ with God by what they’ve done, not by what He did once for all AT CALVARY!

Do you remember the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18? He asked Jesus, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, [Verses 19-20], “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

The rich young ruler responded in verse 21, “All these have I kept from my youth up.” Then in verse 22 Jesus spoke these words: “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

The rich young ruler was very sorrowful because he was a very rich, wealthy young man, and his riches owned his heart and mind! Jesus responded in verses 24-25, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

The crowd around Jesus and the rich young ruler then responded, in verse 26, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus answered, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” What an illuminating word for us! With us it is impossible – but with God, all things are possible, even our salvation, our redemption, our restoration to God’s eternal intent.

How many have you known who heard the word of truth, the way of salvation, the wisdom of God Himself, yet turned and walked away – content that their way of life should be acceptable to God? In the rich young ruler, Jesus’ words brought him to discouragement – and he defiantly walked away because God’s overflowing compassion was a poor substitute to his fleshly devotion.

There are several truths I encourage you to deal with as you consider “Evangelism – By Overflowing Compassion” knowing it IS THE DIVINE DESIGN!

Do you remember Jesus telling us of the prodigal son who left the father’s blessing for a life of self-rule? But he came to his spiritual senses and decided to return home. In Luke 15:20 the Word says, “But when he was a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says of compassion, “A suffering with another; painful sympathy; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration…”

And compassionate God has a merciful, forgiving, tender heart – so committed to restoring you to Himself. It’s why in Psalm 23:6 David said, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Do you remember Charles Wesley’s “Christmas Hymn”? “Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the new-born King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” WOW!!

It was Thomas Watson who once wrote these words: “Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.” On one hand, God willingly shines forth His compassion and His mercy and His love, while on the other hand divine justice will be meted out to those ignoring His compassionate heart! Evangelism by overflowing compassion?

First, please notice: Evangelism by overflowing compassion through a predetermined explanation. In Romans 9:14-15 Paul wrote wisely: “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

And Holy God, yes, even before our world had been formed, knew within His mind and heart what created MAN with a free will would do. Revelation 13:7-8 speaks of “the beast” who makes “war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.” And then verse 9 says, “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”

Do you see it? Have you grasped it? Are you understanding that God, before the world was formed, knew of man’s fall, and He knew He had to “make a way,” for our rescue, our redemption, and our restoration to His divine plan for us! It was Jesus Christ! He’s the Way, the Truth, and the Life, sovereignly destined to take our sins on to Himself and shed His blood, suffer, and die, that we through repentance and faith should be, could be, would be, reconciled to Holy God.

And in John 6:44 Jesus said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which sent Me draws him.” Every man is drawn, but not every man responds to God’s reach, to His knock on the heart’s door, to His, yes, mental and moral and merciful message of full surrender to Holy God! But a Paul can say, and, yes, you and me, “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

His predetermined plan was the Lamb, Christ Jesus, slain in God’s mind, heart, and will, before the world was ever formed. Didn’t Jesus even say of Abraham that he “rejoiced to see My day, and he was glad”?

There is a religious world around you in which many “profess but never possess” the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Is it really evident? Yes! There are those who begin a walk and turn away and walk no more with Jesus. There are those who possess illumined minds to some divine truths but have hearts that are blinded. “New man” is a strange term, “new life” is a fiction to them, “new heart” is a false impression, and “new Light” remains darkness because there is no repentance, there is no “travailing in birth…until Christ is formed in you.”

But we have an eternal promise: I John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

That’s God’s PREDETERMINED EXPLANATION! But also it’s His wisdom to see Evangelism By Overflowing Compassion THROUGH PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS!

There are two verses of Scripture in Romans 9 that are of such high spiritual understanding. Those two verses are Romans 9:7 and Romans 9:29. They say: Romans 9:7, “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham (that’s FLESH!), are they all children (or children of Faith and Spirit!).” Then verse 29 says, “And as Isaiah said before, ‘Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.”

Flesh is flesh! Flesh is man in his old fallen sin nature! Flesh is the absence of God. Flesh is void of the Eternal. Flesh is self in full debased form. Flesh is human nature seeking to fill the void of spiritual emptiness.

This is why in 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul wrote of “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge…”

But, please hear me! Evangelism by overflowing compassion comes through the Holy Spirit’s knocking on the door of your mind and your heart, through a church’s Godly intentional witness, through a caring, faithful friend who touches you with God’s grace, mercy, and love. And, yes, a bold man, on his own, doing HIS thing: “casting down [HIS] imaginations,” and gladly receiving the divine initiative, ripping out of his worldly mind and worldly heart, all that is opposite of God and allowing God to fill him with Holy Resurrection Life and Presence!

But also it’s so vital, so important, that having experienced what you’ve read in this chapter so far, that you go beyond yourself to a needy world around you. Evangelism by Overflowing Compassion because you become aware of it through powerful personal experiences with others in your mind and on your heart – yes, even casual encounters when you never expected it!

Are you familiar with the woman drawing water at the well in John 4? River water, well water, or living water? And around you, every single day, are people like her, trained in simply river or well water, having never heard of “living water”!

It was “a casual encounter” – a man filled with leprosy saw Jesus! [Luke 5:12], “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” “I am willing; be cleansed.” “Living water”!

Are you familiar at all with “casual encounters” of “a dead man being carried out”? Sadly, most believers are never aware of the “dead men” around them, but Jesus saw the grief of a mother over the death of her son, and He had “compassion” for her! “Young man, I say to you: Arise!” And he who was dead sat up and began to speak.” [Luke 7:14]. The crowds viewing this miracle of grace witnessed the event and great fear came upon them all, and they glorified God! “Living water”!

A “casual encounter”? In Matthew 12: 8 Jesus had just declared, “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath,” and Jesus went into “their synagogue.” [I find that so interesting! I wonder at times if He speaks of “their church”!] But there was a man in the synagogue on the Sabbath with a withered hand. Of course, [ you do understand it, don’t you?], the Pharisees asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”, so that they might accuse Him. Jesus told the man, “Stretch out your hand,” and He healed it!

A “casual encounter”? Mark 1:40 tells us of a leper who came to Jesus, imploring Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean,” and Jesus, moved with compassion, said, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Verse 42 says, “As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.”

But also are you fully aware of Evangelism by Overflowing Compassion because, “in Him,” you sense “people envelopment”! In Romans 9: 25-26 Paul wrote: As He says also in Hosea: [Hosea 2:23], “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.” And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there they shall be called sons of the living God.”

How conscious are you of the Spirit of God in you using your residence as His launching pad in touching others through you with God’s grace and mercy? Don’t you find it so interesting and encouraging that Romans 8:26 tells us, “Likewise the Spirit also helps our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Our own bodies are so far more than residence of our conveniences, but the personal throne-room of the Holy Spirit, yes, a “holy place” where the Spirit of God lives, operates, instructs, and uses us as His jumping off place – to touch lonely, lost, languishing souls so impoverished but about to be filled, by the Holy Spirit, with the fullness of God Himself!

How I pray that you sense in yourself the absolute need of the Holy Spirit in you to touch your world around you with God’s love! In I Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul wrote: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech, or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

In John 16:13-14 Jesus spoke vital words for our understanding He said: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will TELL YOU THINGS TO COME. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

I love Oswald Chambers’ words in “My Utmost For His Highest,” when he wrote: [p.248], “Jesus said, ‘When He the Spirit of truth is come…He shall glorify Me.’ When I commit myself to the revelation made in the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit Who begins to interpret to me what Jesus did; and does in me subjectively all that Jesus Christ did for me objectively.” What is happening ‘in you’ objectively because of the Spirit in you guiding YOU to “people envelopment”?

Evangelism by Overflowing Compassion through the presence of Him who is able! I so love the words of Paul when he wrote in I Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Isn’t “Christ in you” the very hope of glory? Isn’t it “the Spirit of truth” who comes to glorify Christ? Spiritual hunger, spiritual vision, true spiritual ambition, spiritual power, spiritual insight – by our abilities? God, help us! Expose our ineptness, our weakness, our blindness, our inabilities – and show us, give us, anoint us in the very fullness and power of Your Holy Spirit!

In I John 5:6b we read, “And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” The Spirit is ABLE!

I also pray you are gripped, grasped, held onto tightly by the reality of Evangelism by Overcoming Compassion because there is within you, [or about to come upon you!!], a true Spirit of travailing for souls! In Isaiah 66:8c we read: “For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.”

Do you understand a travailing spirit for the lost souls of people around you? Isaiah was a man moved upon by God and instilled with that travailing Spirit. In fact he had an amazing promise from the very throne of God. Isaiah 66:22 says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “so shall your descendants and your name remain.”

Almighty God asked Isaiah in Isaiah 66:8, “..shall a nation be born at once?”, God giving His chosen servant the eternal dream and surety of a new-born spiritual people and spiritual nation! A personal witness can birth one new child of God but has the God-given potential to birth a whole nation of new believers! Through YOU!!

Do you remember that “before the day of Pentecost had fully come” Peter preached and three thousand souls were birthed into God’s spiritual Kingdom? And you doubt that God Himself could do the same through you?

Evangelism by Overcoming Compassion? How? By yielding to the presence of Him who is able! Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Yes, Amen to the glory of God! Amen to His able-ness! Amen to His faithfulness to His Word!

Paul said in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” He added in verses 12-13, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Oh, God’s able-ness! Rejoice in it, rely upon it, rest in it!

This is why in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul wrote: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” Have you spiritually trained yourself in the triumph of Christ – in His able-ness?

CHAPTER THREE

EVANGELISM – THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RELEASE

There is such an interesting word from Jesus that can and does find itself easily passed over. It’s Matthew 24:12 where Jesus said, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” He was speaking about signs of the ‘end times and the end of last days’!

I have no doubt the He spoke about those who live lawlessly, body, soul, and spirit – their love of the Godly life and spiritual things as a lost cause in their evaluation of things that have meaning for them.

If you read the Matthew 24 passage carefully you’ll see great deception in the last days, great conflicts in the end times, great suffering of all – believers as well as unbelievers – great open sin, an attitude of shamelessness, and the time of great open sin bringing to the true believers a time of great opportunity!

“The responsibility of release,” true evangelism, an open door for enslaved people bound in their chains of self-will, self-pleasure, and self-destruction, but Jesus telling us in John 20:23, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

What an awesome revelation that our Lord unveils to every disciple! Our Lord exposed not only a “love grown cold” but tells us of divine love released through a caring people who witness bound up men and women who need His release – and caring disciples take on those who need “the forgiveness”! A caring people live with reckless abandonment and have a goal of touching others with God’s love, grace, and mercy – they know release and want to see others walking in the light of His freedom – not in the darkness of Satanic bondage or self-imposed slavery to sin.

One of the guiding passions of Paul’s ministry was the fact that he saw himself as debtor. He wrote in Romans 1:13-17, “Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you, just as among the other Gentiles. I AM A DEBTOR, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”

Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest”, [p.143], “Do I feel that sense of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul? The spiritual honor of my life as a saint is to fulfill my debt to Christ in relation to them. Every bit of my life that is of value I owe to the Redemption of Jesus Christ; am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His Redemption into actual manifestation in other lives? I can only do it as the Spirit of God works in me this sense of indebtedness.”

Paul said in Romans 1 three things that you as a believer must resolve: 1) “I am a debtor”, 2) “I am ready”, 3) “I am not ashamed”

And this became reality in him because of the release of the Holy Spirit through him! In Romans 8:12-14 he said, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh [or one’s old sin nature], to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

There are three separate passages in Acts I want to strongly impress upon you: 1) Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 2) Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” 3) Acts 4:33, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”

“Evangelism – The Responsibility of Release”? And you think you are able? I don’t think so! But ‘Christ in you IS the hope of glory,’ and Spirit-anointing is your guarantee of a daily supply of boldness to touch your world with grace!

Redemptive relationships are to be such, yes, a normal part of every believer’s life. There is a powerful, uplifting, encouraging, and motivating story in Luke 5:17-26. The Word says, “Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst of Jesus. WHEN HE SAW THEIR FAITH, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [If you read John 20:23 over and over, you begin to wonder how many “Pharisees and teachers of the law” sit by and “forgive” no one!!]

I’m sure there are those who need more healing grace than the physical paralytic because, though ‘professing believers’, they are bound with the paralysis of dreaded personal fears overcome by destructive, deathly sin that they’re not free from, or bound with the paralysis of despondency, the paralysis of disillusionments, the paralysis of self-confidence – and they don’t even know, though spiritually paralyzed, that through Christ Jesus THEY can rise up and walk a victorious life in and through our Lord and Savior!

The Luke 5 passage is so birthed with a holy, sacred, yes, divine way of touching men’s lives who are so in need of saving grace and mercy. Four banded together, four carried the needy man, four placed him at the very feet of Jesus. But whether one or four, God’s people are to creatively find ways to bring the needy man to Jesus! And isn’t it amazing to you that they never said a word to Jesus but simply set the needy man at Jesus’ feet? Who is it that you’ve lately carried to the feet of Jesus and laid him, them, at His precious Presence?

Oh, and notice! A paralyzed man placed at the very feet of Jesus – and having seen “their faith,” the faith of these four men, Jesus said what? “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” [Verse 20, Luke 5]. This didn’t shake the four men who brought the paralytic, but it sure shocked the scribes and Pharisees! Luke 5:21 says, “And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Follow carefully and prayerfully and reflectively Luke 5:22-26, But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”

Understand ! It is not strange! Redemptive relationships call for the responsibility of release! What did Jesus say? John 20:23, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them..”

In Matthew 16:13-19 Jesus, with His disciples traveling with Him, asked them the following: “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

A revelation from heaven! Redemptive relationships call for the responsibility of release! And you in Christ are commissioned, having been made free in Him, to “set the captives free!!” Judges 5:12 speaks of “leading captivity captive” – and, praise God, there is spiritual binding and loosing on this earth, to the glory of God! There is even “bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” [2 Corinthians 10:5b].

Yet how many do you know who interpret their freedom in Christ as the right to be “spiritually unemployed,” never sensing the meaning of “take up your cross and follow Me”!

“Evangelism – The Responsibility of Release”? I have no doubt that its fruition and fulfillment is born out of a burden much like Nehemiah who looked upon the broken down walls of Jerusalem, the Holy City. Some, far too many, have never seen their lives as broken down walls subject to the powers of darkness or their lives as possibly, potentially, city-grounds of a holy dwelling place. Nehemiah asked the king for permission to return to the torn-down city in order to restore it to God’s intent!

And, today, the new Nehemiahs are accepting the responsibility of release and moving out to restore in others God’s eternal intent. No doubt this is why Paul wrote in Galatians 5:13, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

It was Phillips Brooks who once preached, “Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God’s Paradise.”

But rather than lives on earth being God’s Paradise, far too many men, and I say probably the majority of earthly men, are not truly free in the scriptural sense because they are slaves to their flesh, their old sin natures, that ‘fallen man’ spirit – and someone must be God’s tool to touch their lives with His grace and mercy. We know, John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed,” free on God’s terms and blessed with His eternal intent!

In I Peter 2:15-16 Peter wrote so wisely under the Spirit’s anointing, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.”

Peter had said earlier in I Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

But there are those sincerely or ignorantly seeing themselves called out of darkness into His marvelous light with little or no concern for those in bondage to their sin, their old sin natures, or in bondage to Satan Himself! And you have no concern for unbelievers around you? The miracle of divine Redemption is meaningless to too many “professors of faith”, and they live silently in enslaved states to flesh, sin, and the devil, totally unconcerned about the reach of the Redemption of others through them.

I really, really believe that it’s time for professing Christians everywhere to stand with Jesus crying out to Holy God, “What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Your name,” and that’s through us in the 21^st century!

Frederic D. Huntington once said: “Sorrow is our John the Baptist, clad in grim garments, with rough arms, a son of the wilderness, baptizing us with bitter tears, preaching repentance; and behind him comes the gracious, affectionate, healing Lord, speaking peace and joy to the soul.”

You do know that Isaiah 53:3 tells us of our Lord and Savior who was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” How’s your ‘grief’ quotient concerning lost mankind surrounding you? Jesus ! A man of sorrows because He cared so passionately for the lost and dying spiritually so much so that He took their sin unto Himself and carried it to the cruel Cross!

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the following: “Sorrow is divine. Sorrow is reigning on all the thrones of the universe, and the crown of all crowns has been one of thorns. There have been many books that treat of the sympathy of sorrow, but only one that bids us glory in tribulation, and count it all joy when we fall into divers afflictions, that so we may be associated with that great fellowship of suffering of which the incarnate Son of God is the head, and through which He is carrying a redemptive conflict to a glorious victory over evil. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.” Glory!

“Evangelism – The Responsibility of Release”! It was Henri Frederic Amiel who said: “The distinguishing mark of religion [Dare I say relationship with God?] is not so much liberty as obedience, and its value is measured by the sacrifices which it can extract from the individual.” What has God Himself extracted from you concerning the sacrifice of a laid-down life in a personal witness to others?

How do you measure your spiritual devotion to Christ in His call to you to be a witness of saving grace? Devotion to His holy calling is not that which comes and goes – it doesn’t or shouldn’t fade away from us in silence! Devotion is one captured by obedience to His calling – “Tell the world you’re a Christian and how it happened!”

A witness of saving grace to others? Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest”, [p.264], has written: “The calling of a New Testament worker is to uncover sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior, consequently he cannot be poetical, he must be sternly surgical. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful discourses. We have to probe straight down as deeply as God has probed us, to be keen in sensing the Scriptures which bring the truth straight home and to apply them fearlessly.”

“Evangelism – The Responsibility of Release”! Years ago my wife and I attended a convention of pastors where we met one of my former Baylor University classmates, a pastor in the Marietta, Georgia area. He introduced us to a man by the name of Harry Dent who used to be a presidential aide in Washington, DC. He had retired and returned to his home, I believe, in South Carolina. He was not a disciple of Jesus, but his daughter, a born-again believer, encouraged her father to read carefully the Gospel of John, and then they would talk. Harry met Christ through his daughter’s reaching out to one she cared for and loved deeply. Harry Dent was born-again and even attended a Bible College and seminary to deepen his understanding and prepare him to be a faithful witness.

Lee Strobel was a newsman from Chicago, an unbeliever. But his wife was born again and he was sure he could research the Bible and refute everything she said. Through his born-again wife Lee Strobel met Jesus even writing a book entitled “The Case For Christ.”

I’m a former pastor who after twelve years of pastoring came to the reality of the new birth after a pastor-friend, Peter Lord, said to me: “Farrell, I sense you are a man who has never truly repented of his sin and made Jesus Lord of your life.” He was right, and in February, 1974, I was born again and God pointed my life, my heart to international missions. It’s good for preachers to be born-again!

I Peter 1:22-23 says, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…”

CHAPTER FOUR

EVANGELISM – BLIND FAITH?

Hebrews 11:1 is certainly clear to anyone who wants to hear it and receive it: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

A man’s relationship with Holy God is not a matter of one’s ‘common sense,’ or one being totally ‘rational,’ or a life of ‘emotional sentimentality,’ or of such natural tendencies of ‘a brilliant mind,’ that one on his own figures it out and enjoys God just reaching down from His throne and bestowing on him blessing after blessing!

No, I believe I heard Jesus say something about YOU taking up your own cross and following Him. I believe I heard Him say, “In the world, you as a believer, a disciple, a follower of Christ, will have tribulation.” That makes sense to You? Common sense?

In “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.226], Oswald Chambers wrote: “Faith by its very nature must be tried, and the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character has to be cleared in our own minds. Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of unsyllabled isolation. Never confound the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, much that we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith in the Bible is faith in God against everything that contradicts Him – I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him’ – this is the most sublime utterance of faith in the whole of the Bible.”

In Jude 3-4 there is a holy summons given because “blind faith” always excites for spiritual warfare. It says: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I so love what God’s Word says in John 20:29, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” It was Augustine who said, “For what is faith unless it is to believe what you do not see?” And the one truth you personally may need to grasp for yourself is that biblical faith is so far beyond human reasoning or human intellect!

I’m sure it’s why William Newton Clarke once said, “Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see.” Sir Thomas Browne opened a huge door of understanding when he wrote: “To believe only possibilities is not Faith, but mere Philosophy.” And philosophical minds ponder – they do not rest in faith!

Skeptics are multitudinous in number but ‘zero’ in heavenly harmony, ‘zero’ in the higher faculties beyond human reasoning, ‘zero’ in the transformation of spiritually dead men into classic reputations of men touched and taken over by God Himself!

Peter Taylor Forsyth said: “Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is about us.” And this is no doubt why we witness a nation birthed by God Himself, yes, the United States of America, that is fast moving toward a godless society as a whole!

“Evangelism – Blind Faith”? Yes, there is Hope, biblical hope of eternal significance! I’m thankful my ministry years were influenced by the Englishman, Leonard Ravenhill, who wrote the book “Why Revival Tarries”. In it [p.115] he wrote: “Had Saul met only a preacher and heard only a sermon on the Damascus road, he might never have been heard of again. But he met Christ!…Right there that day Saul’s philosophy of life was met with LIFE HIMSELF.”

Didn’t Paul tell us in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that “we walk by faith, not by sight”? I love what Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before one single word – faith.” That is so very, very true! Why? Because true, saving, life-changing faith is looking up, looking in, and looking around – then offering one’s life to Living God as a sacrifice of praise!

I say to you, faith is not a probability but a blind certainty, touched by the God we do not see! Reason may give to a man of intellectual prowess a sense of superiority but faith gives a man the certainty of a heart of reconciliation with Holy God!

It was John Greenleaf Whittier in “My Soul and I” who wrote: “Nothing before, nothing behind; the steps of faith fall on the seeming void, and find the rock beneath.” That’s, yes, “The Rock of Ages”! Augustus Toplady and Thomas Hastings wrote that precious old hymn. It says:

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the water and the blood, From Your wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure…

Not the labor of my hands, Can fulfill Your law’s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, These for sin could not atone, You must save, and You alone…

Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Your cross I cling; Naked, come to You for dress; Helpless, look to You for grace; Vile, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die…

While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold You on Your throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.” Glory be to God alone!”

It was Alfred Lord Tennyson, in “Idyllys of the King: Merlin and Vivien,” who said: “Faith and unfaith can never be equal powers; Unfaith in aught is want of faith in all.” Faith or unfaith? Faith is God’s saving provision – it is saving faith, appropriating faith, wise, intelligent, mind-filled faith, and certainly assimilating faith that forever builds us up IN HIM!

That tells me that God’s saving faith is a supplying faith! I challenge you to read through the Psalms daily over the next 3 months reading at least 10 chapters a day! But hear Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

In Psalm 32:1-2 David said: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

Yes, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” Yes, “Blessed is he who leans not unto his own understanding but in all his ways acknowledges, bows before, surrenders to the King of kings and the Lord of lords!” Yes, “Blessed is the man not in bondage to worldly education but the man ‘faith-filled’ in the revelation of God’s Word and His liberating power!” Yes, “Blessed is the man whose ‘blind faith’ has opened heavenly understanding of who he now is ‘in Christ’!”

But how many do you know who are like one of Doestoevski’s characters. Harold A. Bosley wrote about him in his “Religion in Life.” Dostoevski had one of his ‘stars’ saying: “I am an X in an indeterminate equation. I am sort of a phantom in life who has lost all beginning and end, who has forgotten his own name.” Bosley wrote: “The affirmation that we find in the Gospel causes us to confront every man with the word, ‘I know your real name. You are not an X in an indeterminate equation or a phantom in life, you [by faith!] are a child of God, you are a brother of mine in Christ.’” Oh, how rich and revealing and restorative is that!

“Evangelism – Blind Faith?” Don’t you find it amazing that so many men around you try to live apart from heavenly vision which has as its support “blind faith”?

You’ll remember that the wise man of Proverbs 29:18 wrote: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” It was James Russell Lowell, who wrote: “The wicked and the weak, by some dark law, have a strange power to shut and rivet down their own horizons round us, to unwing our heaven-aspiring visions.” And that no doubt is true of some, as disciples, who try to live apart from ‘heaven-aspiring visions.”

But in acts 26:19 Paul said to King Agrippa, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”

How do we deal, modern-day church, with God’s Word in Joel 2:28? “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”

“Blind faith”? And evangelism as a result of it? It was Raphael who said: “I simply dream dreams and see visions, and then I paint around those dreams and visions.

For me? After my conversion in February of 1974, and after my Lord’s leading into Brazilian missions for about six years, that amazing door was opened to India by a friend who said, “Farrell, you must go to India!” I consented! And God said, “The rest of your ministry life is to be committed to the pastors, churches, and youth of India.” I painted for 25 years – and God produced a masterpiece!!

I love what E. Paul Hovey said: “A blind man’s world is bounded by the limits of his touch; an ignorant man’s world by the limits of his knowledge; a great man’s world by the limits of his vision.” Tell me about YOUR Christ-given vision!

No wonder Peter Marshall wrote in “Mr. Jones, Meet The Master,” “Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.”

“Evangelism – Blind Faith”? Have you ever heard news editors, professors, teachers, even preachers speak about ‘virtuous men’? I have no doubt that godless men can act at times in a virtuous manner. But, for me, virtue can be the finest of ‘flesh’ while righteousness is the finest of the Spirit-controlled, Spirit-led, Spirit-blessed life.

Virtuousness is a calming nature in place of one’s viciousness, but righteousness is God’s gift. Psalm 85:10 says, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

Evangelism as ‘blind faith’ is the unveiling by God Himself of a full, free, fulfilling life – Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” Not maybe, not simply a possibility – but hungering and thirsting after the fullness of God brings a “filling” that never has to be depleted!

Psalm 87:7 is so enlightening and encouraging! It simply says, “All my fresh springs are in You.” Not the best of a fallen and restored Adam but the best of ALL Jesus is and ALL He promises! In “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.271], Oswald Chambers wrote: “We will cling to the natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us into contact with the life of Jesus Christ which can never be described in terms of the natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people in the service of God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them, depending on what they have by the accident of heredity [or what they learned in a fleshly manner by repetition!]”

Hear me! It’s in and through Jesus Christ alone that fallen mankind inherits the heavenly Life of Christ alone!

“Evangelism – Blind Faith!” In Galatians 3:26 Paul very clearly says: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” And faith in Christ Jesus is not an inactive activity unless one wills it and walks away!

In the very next chapter, Galatians 4:19, the apostle wrote, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”

The birthing process in flesh is an extremely painful event – but the birthing process in the spirit-realm is ‘just a piece of cake’? I don’t think so! God’s Holy Word speaks of a warfare – not only with the powers of darkness but warfare in the putting to death daily of the natural man and putting on Christ!

In Galatians 5:24 Paul said, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” I hate to tell you, but Paul said: “I DIE DAILY!” Chambers again said: “Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.” What a challenge! A daily challenge!

Spiritual royalty is never a reality because false prophets set crowns on your head. Spiritual crowns come to be placed on the heads of God’s holy people because willingly a disciple of Jesus dies to his/her independence and self-will, resting himself/herself in the strong arms of Jesus only. Didn’t our Lord say, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself”?

And “blind faith” is blindness chosen to the old man and eternal eyesight to the new man redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and invaded by His resurrection Holy Presence! As we lift Him up in our lives day by day we are being changed into His likeness as He molds us into His eternal image.

Grant Colfax Tullar wrote this hymn: “Face to face with Christ my Savior, Face to face, how can it be, When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ, who died for me…

Only faintly now I see Him, With the darkling veil between; But a blessed day is coming, When His glory shall be seen…

What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain! When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain!…

Face to face – O blissful moment! Face to face, to see and know; Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loves me so.”

And He does love YOU so much!! Just look at the Cross! There’s an old, old hymn by B.B. McKinney that says:

“I am mourning o’er my follies; I am weeping o’er my sin; For my guilt’s become oppressive, And a burden long has been; Will the Lord be gracious to me, If I tell Him all my woe, Will He leave me in my anguish?

“No!” Crimson Calvary answers, “No!” Crimson Calvary answers, “No!” On the cross the blessed Savior paid the sin-price long ago; All who will on Him believe, Full redemption shall receive, For the blood of Jesus cleanses Whiter than driven snow.” Amen?

CHAPTER FIVE

EVANGELISM – THE CHURCH’S MAJOR MINISTRY

When one thinks of “church” today are one’s thoughts turned to the buildings one has built, or to the crossroads of whether it is truly a spiritual society that honors the heart, the name, the reputation of Jesus, or that its initiative is self-church-promotion in place of Christ-realization?

The “church” is not to have as its goal being such an exhibitionist that its reputation sadly brings shame on the name of Jesus Himself!

The “church” at times has prospered phenomenally financially but been bankrupt as an extension of His Life, as an expression of His love, or as the very living proof of our Lord’s power!

Can a “church” be strong in the eyes of the world around it yet far too weak from God’s intent? Can a “church” be so concerned about itself that protective walls are so stout it hinders the ‘lost’ from finding a way in?

The “church” – is it possible some settle into a mind-set that sinners are trespassers who don’t have a right to enter? The “church” – has its emphasis become so strong about its ‘sacredness’ that strangers to the faith feel unwanted?

The “church” at times has become so respectful about itself that the world outside, lost and separated from God, doesn’t sense an ‘open door’.

Isaac K. Beckes made a very profound statement when he said: “We must stop giving the impression that the church is surrounded by a wall, fighting for its existence against a world that is trying to destroy it; instead, we must realize that the church is a force pushing out into the world.”

The “church”? I firmly agree with Paul the apostle that the church of our Lord and Savior is on a journey that includes every disciple being built up “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” but not at the expense of sharing the faith with others outside becoming a lost cause!

“The church” must, yes, it must realize that too often it has set itself as opposite from the very lost world in which it exists and is there (in the world) as the connector between God and lost men! And there are some who even feel or they sense that to be lost in ‘church life’ is to willingly separate one’s self from God Himself, yes, denying the very reason Jesus came into the darkness!

It was Albert Rasmussen, in “Christian Social Ethics,” [1956, Prentice-Hall], who wrote: “The great sin of the church is to be so interested in serving those within it that it cannot serve the needs of those without.”

I’m sure you’ve seen on TV people in Jerusalem gathering at the “wailing wall.” Would to God every “church” had a “wailing wall” spirit for the lost, the dying, the separated from God multitudes out their doors!

Didn’t Jesus say, “I have come to seek and to save that which is lost,” [Luke 19:10]? In I John 2:2 John said, “And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” The “church’s” calling is announcing to the world through its messengers, John 1:29, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

In and through every local church, through every member-disciple, is there a calling for ALL to be a part of God’s missionary heart, His missionary spirit, and His missionary sacrifice, touching our world around us with His love, grace, and mercy? Again, Oswald Chambers has written, [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.214], “A missionary is one who is wedded to the charter of his Lord and Master, he has not to proclaim his own point of view, but to proclaim the Lamb of God. It is easier to belong to a coterie [ ‘a group of people who associate closely because of common social purposes, interests, etc.’ Random House Collegiate Dictionary.] which tells what Jesus Christ has done for me, easier to become a devotee to Divine healing, or to a special type of sanctification, or to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Paul did not say – ‘Woe is unto me, if I do not preach what Christ has done for me, “ but – “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” This is the Gospel – “The Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world!”

The “church”? Tell me about YOUR church’s prayer ministry that majors on God Himself sending out “laborers”! Doesn’t Matthew 9:37-38 tell us, Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Most churches are doubled-down on readiness for Sundays and Wednesday nights, maybe – but what about super intense training on, yes, winning people to faith in Christ alone?

I was just reading recently John 14:12 where Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” I have no hesitation in saying to you that prayer is necessary, intense, life-altering warfare! And prayer with witness is the key to eternal victory. James Montgomery wrote an old hymn entitled “Prayer Is The Soul’s Sincere Desire.” It says:

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed; The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glance of an eye, When none but God is near.

Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice, Returning from his ways; While angels in their songs rejoice And cry, ‘Behold, he prays!’

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, The Christian’s native air, His watchword at the gates of death; He enters heaven with prayer.

O Jesus, by whom we come to God, The Life, the Truth, the Way, The path of prayer Yourself has trod; Lord, teach us how to pray!” Amen?

The “church”? Isn’t it to be a pillar of fire that captures a dark world’s attention, that alerts a lost pilgrim to the right pathway home, that touches hurting humanity with healing grace, that, yes, picks up the fallen and shows him healing grace, that breaks the chains of Satanic bondage gripping every lost, separated from God, unbelieving man, woman, or child, shouting out their only hope?

The “church”? The gathering place of the forgiven and the forgiving, the assembly of atoned men and women by the blood of the Lamb overflowing with the joy of the Lord and cannot be silent or selfish or just satisfied they’ve been reconciled when there is a “world” that God so loved and loves even now! 3 John 7 says, “..they went forth for His name’s sake..”

In Revelation 7:9-10 we read: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Who is this great number? Revelation 7:14 says, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The “church”? Seed planters, harvest workers, disciple-makers, trainers equipping the trainees, travail-ers in prayer for the lost, spiritual soldiers trained to win the battles for the souls of men, evangelists proclaiming the “Good News,” the appointed and anointed sent out to share saving faith and the marvelous grace and the unlimited love of our Lord and Savior!

The “church”? Yes, a suffering church because of its evangelistic witness and mission! In Hebrews 10:32-36 we read: “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated [enlightened], you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise…”

Tell me: Because of your faithful witnessing as a church Body to the lost, are YOU ready to suffer, are you ready for imprisonment as a believer, and, yes, are you willing to face martyrdom because of your witnessing ministry?

Tell me: Because you ‘evangelize’ are you willing to be made a ‘spectacle’ to your world around you? In I Corinthians 4:10-13 Paul talked about being a ‘fool’ in Christ! He talked about being dishonored by the world around him. He then said in verses 12-13, “And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.”

The “church”? Do you realize how much time ‘church officials’ spend in evaluating, planning, implanting strategies for a healthier local body of believers with no strategies, training, or equipping their churches to witness and evangelize?

Life in Christ through the local Body of believers is to be the biblical learning of laying down one’s life for others, coming into the sovereign wisdom and revelation of a witnessing community, and even strategizing how the local church can share the Gospel world-wide!

But the church does have an enemy – it’s the Devil! And he’s more than a ‘shop-lifter’ – he’s a destroyer! It was Henry George Bohn in “Handbook of Proverbs” who wrote: “The Devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned with false doctrine.”

And he’s sure ‘good’ at deceiving churches and pastors and believers that evangelism is not their true cup of tea! What’s your church’s banner that flies over it? “Come in – we’re comfortable!” or, “We go and we tell!”

The “church”? I don’t know who wrote it, but I came across these words that truly say so much that needs to be said and read and received and reduplicated! Receive it:

“Faith is not merely praying upon our knees at night; Faith is not merely straying through darkness into light; Faith is not merely waiting for glory that may be. Faith is the brave endeavor, the splendid enterprise, the strength to serve, whatever conditions may arise.”

Biblical faith, redemptive faith, saving faith, serving faith as one “makes disciples”! Didn’t Paul say in Galatians 2:20 that, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” And Christ lives in you so that you may be a faithful member of your local church? He lives in you to extend His Life, express His love through you, and prove through your witness His power to save!

The “church”? Does the Word of God talk about Saul who became Paul to give us simply a historical view of what Christ can do for one man or what He can do through all men?

You know Saul’s encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road and how he was touched by grace and mercy. Is that an isolated incident or do we read in it every repentant man’s future ministry? Follow Acts 9:10-16!

“Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ So the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.’ And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.’ Then Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”

Hear me! In Christ, you are not a showroom exhibit, but the Savior’s expression of eternal love and grace! To the church at Rome, Paul wrote: [Romans 1:1-6], “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom YOU ALSO ARE THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST.”

Do you see it? YOU are the called of Jesus Christ, YOU have been separated to the gospel of God, You have been called to obedience to the faith, YOU have a mandate from the Master to bear His name to unsaved men and women!

In the old “Pure Oil News” a black minister was asked about his secret as a powerful preacher. He responded: “It’s simple. I read myself full. I think myself clear. I pray myself hot. And then I let go.” Amen?

Do you remember Jesus going into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and reading from the prophet Isaiah where Isaiah recorded these words:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Was that just for Jesus or is it an all-inclusive word? What does Acts 1:8 tell US as a reminder? “But YOU shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

I’m sure you’ll remember Acts 3:37-38 when men said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And don’t dare forget Acts 2:39! “For the promise is to you and to your children, AND TO ALL WHO ARE AFAR OFF, [Even in the 21^st Century!], as many as the Lord our God will call.”

I close this chapter with words from the old hymn, “Jesus Calls Us”. It says: “Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult of our life’s wild, restless sea, Day by day His sweet voice sounds, saying, ‘Christian, follow Me.’

Jesus calls us from the worship of the vain world’s golden store, From each idol that would keep us, Saying, ‘Christian, love Me more.’

In our joys and in our sorrows, Days of toil and hours of ease, Still He calls, in cares and pleasures, ‘Christian, love Me more than these.’

Jesus calls us: by Your mercies, Savior, may we hear Your call, Give our hearts to Your obedience, Serve and love You best of all.”

Has Jesus called YOU? Have YOU responded to His call? Are YOU His witness weaved into His church family by His grace, mercy, and love? Are you reaching out around you to touch others with His saving grace? Are you the voice in the wilderness saying to the lost: “Come Home! Come to Jesus! Come to His salvation and an eternal relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords!”

CHAPTER SIX

EVANGELISM – GOD’S ETERNAL INTENTION

Romans 8:28-30 says: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

God’s eternal intention? And evangelism through us as believers is His way of turning the tide of godlessness to a calm sea of eternal bliss? All around us are “natural” men blinded by the god of this world, consumed by hopelessness, driven by a strong storm of sinfulness, swayed by a self-centered morality, and most have no need of God and deny the Gospel as their ‘good news,’ glad for you but no sense in them of interest in reconciliation with Holy God!

But the Lord Jesus gives to every born again believer a promise that we must learn to stand on: [John 12:32], “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

Romans 5:17-18 is so uplifting when you see “abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness” and that we share in the reign of Christ! It says: “For if by the one man’s offense [Adam in the fall] [resulting in] death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

But is it possible that needy men will reject a free gift? Of course! There IS rejection, even denial, of God’s mercy and grace! Oh, but for some the denial comes in a cloud of what one has called, “amiable religiosity.” And that has nothing to do with the “new birth”! But ‘religious’ men can perform in an acting career of similarity void of our Lord’s indwelling presence.

This chapter is Evangelism – God’s Eternal Intention! There are “the called according to His purpose.” But who are the called? Is that the gifted one? Is that the diligent, disciplined, determined one who decides in himself he’s capable of pleasing God? How phony is that and so opposite of what our Lord Jesus did and does though us! Romans 5:10 tells us: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

It is “Christ in us [who is] the hope of glory!” It is Christ through us that touches our world with saving grace! It is not our efforts but Christ’s sacrificial death that brings us into a right standing with God. It is the shed blood of Christ that washes our sin away. It is His cruel death that God accepts in behalf of our penalty – and through that death alone wipes your slate clean and instills Christ in you as God’s testimony of mercy and grace.

We do not ‘reason’ ourselves into an acceptance by God – we receive His revelation and find acceptance through the sacrificial death of Christ Jesus alone. Atonement, blood atonement, Jesus’ willing sacrifice on the Cross brings an open door of opportunity of reconciliation with Holy God – and that alone!

The “called” are “new creation” miracles wrought by the heart of God alone! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to] in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The “called”, who are “new creations”, discover, not only miraculous saving grace of the heart of God, but a new unveiling of identity! 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [in Christ]!” I love Oswald Chambers’ statement when he said: “It is not Christ “for” me unless I am determined to have Christ formed “in” me.” [“My Utmost…”, p.224].

The righteousness of God “in Him”? In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul said, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…”!! What an awesome revelation! Romans 5:12 explains: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men.” The righteousness of God is not in fleshly, sinning men but in Christ alone! The righteousness of God is not a man’s good deeds, but God’s glorified Son because of His sacrificial death on the Cross in our behalf – and that alone! God’s righteousness in us is because of Christ’s sacrificial death for us and His resurrection Presence in us!

We don’t ‘save’ ourselves! We don’t earn a right standing with Holy God! We’re not privileged because of our degrees or our good deeds or our self-determination! It’s the “shed blood” of Christ alone that puts in us a right standing with the Living God who loved us, lost us, and then bought us off the marketplace of sinfulness through the “SAVIOR”! The only ‘doing’ by a sinner separated from Holy God is in the finished work of Christ on the Cross by repentance toward God and faith in what Jesus did on the Cross in shedding His innocent blood for our guilt!

Evangelism – God’s eternal intention! “…predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…!”

If Holy God had only one Son who was well-pleasing, and it’s true – if He births “new sons” through the shed blood of Christ, is it because God accepts First Adams because He is so gracious or new Second Adams because He is so merciful and loving? In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 we read of God’s awesome intent!!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a ‘new creation’; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, THAT IS, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the ‘word of reconciliation.’ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Tell me about your likeness to Christ! Tell me about your journey of being conformed to His image. Describe to me your holy ‘pressure cookers’ that daily brought you to total dependence on CHRIST IN YOU! Tell me about His seal of Holy Presence that you lean upon! Oh, hear Paul’s words in I Corinthians 2:12! “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Blood Redemption through the Cross of Christ is the door of your life being opened to His resurrection life, resurrection hope, and resurrection power – and the journey of being “conformed to His image” has begun! If you are without Christ, it’s a sad journey with only darkness ahead, but ‘in Christ’ it is a new identity, a new dawning of eternal morning light, and a new warmth of holy presence uplifting one to eternal significance in and through Christ alone!

It was Alfred Lord Tennyson who wrote the following words: “Ring in the valiant man and free, the larger heart, the kindlier hand! Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be!” And that’s Christ being Himself in you and through you which is why you take the sentence of death unto yourself daily that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested through you.

Paul the apostle wrote confidently to the church at Rome, and us, when in Romans 15:29 he said: “But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” He said, “I come with Christ, I come with the gospel of Christ, I come with the blessing of the gospel of Christ, AND, “I come with the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Where are you on God’s thermometer?

Have you been sidetracked? How easy for some to become intellectually sidetracked with a professor’s philosophy of life and miss our Lord’s Living Presence in them! No doubt this is why Josiah Strong said years ago: “There are many in the Church as well as out of it who need to learn that Christianity is neither a creed nor a ceremonial, but a life vitally connected with a loving Christ.” So true!

Blood Redemption! Divine Reconciliation! Holy Invasion! Oneness in and with Christ! Christ – your Hope of Glory! In Christ – drawn by Father God and the Holy Spirit! Glory in the Cross of Christ! Hidden with Christ in God! Emmanuel! God with us! God in us! God through us! Walking in the light as He is in the light, His blood cleanses us from all sin! Jesus – our Fresh Spring in us that never runs dry! Jesus – our Living Water! Jesus Christ! Loyal in death! Loyal in Resurrection Life! Loyal in Heavenly Power and Provision and Presence! Jesus! Our faithful intercessor!

Do you truly believe Jesus Christ is God’s only provider of all you need to live a victorious, conquering, overcoming life of faith that honors Him? Listen to Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost For His Highest”! [p.256], “It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God’s best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God, is to bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. ‘They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh’ [that’s your old sin nature!] – it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something.”

Isn’t that why Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 that, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.” Deny himself? That is willful death, a full denial of the virtue of the old man separated from God, a complete personal sacrifice of the natural man in order to witness the new birth of the spiritual man, a glad substituting of the pampered self for the new life in the Spirit of Jesus, the painful process of faithful repentance and full surrender until Christ Jesus is fully formed in each of our hearts and the old man is fully obliterated!

Whoever said becoming a true Christian is “a piece of cake” has totally avoided the Word of God in their deliberations! I’m thinking I remember Paul writing, 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

Before His Ascension, Jesus told His disciples in John 16:7-12, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It I to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

Do YOU understand? God’s Eternal Intention is to bring you forgiveness, Presence, a living Word, an available Power, an eternal purpose – that is, that your available life in Christ becomes a mirror to others reflecting His Holy Life in and through YOU! In the previous verses we just read in John 16:7-12 we’ve learned: 1) The Awareness of Christ of our need, 2) The Advantage of His Absence – “THE HOLY SPIRIT IS COMING!” 26 times, at least, He tells us of His coming! 3) The appointment of His Spirit – the Spirit’s assistance in honoring and glorifying Christ through us!

In I Corinthians 2: 4-5 Paul said: “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Is that clear to you?

We are not to be as some to which Paul referred to in I Corinthians 3:3 that there were some in the Corinthian church “behaving like mere men”! You are not a “mere man”! God’s eternal intention?

YOU have the mind of Christ! You have been indwelt by His resurrection life! You are a recipient of the Holy Spirit! You are “more than a conqueror”! You are Christ’s “ambassador”! You are “wise in Christ”! You are ‘the temple’ of His Holy Presence! You are a life saved by grace to show forth the glory of God! You ARE “gifted by the Spirit”! You are an “epistle of Christ” written by the Holy Spirit and read by all men! You are “being transformed into Christ’s image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord!” God has “shined in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” who shines through you! You live no longer for yourself but for Him who died and rose again that through His presence in you men around you “see Jesus!”

YOU have been crucified with Christ, you no longer live – but Christ lives in you; and the life which you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God, yes, the One who loved you and gave Himself for you! You glory only in the Cross of your Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world has been crucified to you, and you to the world! God’s Eternal Intention! You were far off from God but Christ Jesus has brought you near to God by His own blood! You are now a dwelling place of God in and through His Holy Spirit! You are now a bondservant of Christ doing the will of God from your own heart! You know you’re in the process [you haven’t finished the journey quite yet] but fully assured that what God started, He’ll finish in you and through you!

You count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus your Lord, for whom you have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that you may gain Christ! YOU ARE COMPLETE IN CHRIST, LACKING NOTHING! Live like it! Fulfill God’s eternal intention! Glorify your Savior on earth as He’s glorified in Heaven!

Sing His praises! Shout forth the worthiness of the Worthy Lamb! Celebrate His “birth” in you! Fight the good fight of faith! Put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…!!

You receive the Word of God! You welcome the Word of God! You devour the Word of God! You proclaim the Word of God! You stand on the Word of God! You know God’s eternal intent!

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it!!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OF A NEEDY WORLD

Isn’t it amazing to you as you open John’s epistles and he’s addressing ‘my little children,’ [and that’s his young children in the faith], that in I John 2:15-17 John challenges them about not loving the world! He said: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

I don’t know who said it but I read it: “The ship’s place is in the sea, but God pity the ship when the sea gets into it. The Christian’s place is in the world, but God pity the Christian if the world gets the best of him.”

As God’s handiwork, the world around us is a beautiful and majestic place, but the people in it have taken the ‘divine dream’ and perverted it. It was Herrick Johnson who once wrote: “Buying, possessing, accumulating, this is not worldliness. – But doing this in the love of it, with no love to God paramount – doing it so that thoughts of God and eternity are an intrusion – doing it so that one’s spirit is secularized in doing it – this is worldliness.”

It was Robert E. Lee who wrote a truthful letter to his wife. In it he wrote: “What a glorious world Almighty God has given us! How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor to mar His gifts.”

When Jesus said for us all to come unto Him and we’d find rest, the sad truth is that a sinful world is restless, a defiant world is tired and weary, and a rebellious world fails to sense its “unvoiced cry after God,”[Theodor Munger]. What did we read from I John? “..The lust of the flesh [old sin nature], the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..” And we know fleshly pride is a disease of “the falling away” from God Himself!

The world! The world created and formed by the hand of God Himself through His creative genius has been marred by sinful men, yes, and needs its own Redeeming! The Kingdom and the Power and the Glory God intended have witnessed a sad commentary of failure, of deep misery, of false hope, of dark shadows rather than heavenly light, of a heaviness that holds down even one’s attempted reach after Him, of a blindness to the beauty of a God-ordained world and a God-ordained life, because ‘fallen mankind’ fails to grasp that the world he has marred is a visible picture of a marred heart within!

One of the saddest words for parents concerning a son or a pastor concerning a parishioner or a godly teacher concerning a pupil or a Christian doctor concerning a patient is seen in 2 Timothy 4:10 when Paul said to Timothy “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

I think one of the saddest words I’ve read recently came when I was reading Spurgeon in “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Vol.6, p.ps 128-129], when he preached: “Another point in which the sinner often excuses himself is the manifest ‘worldliness’ of many Christians. You will see Christian men and women as fond of dress, and as pleased with the frivolities of the age, as any other persons possibly could be; just as anxious to adorn their outward person, so as to be seen of men, just as ambitious to win the praise which fools accord to fine dressing, as the most silly fop or the most gaudy among worldly women. What does the world say, when we turn round to it, and accuse it of being a mere butterfly, and finding all its pleasures in gaudy toys? ‘Oh! yes,’ it says, ‘we know your cant, but it is just the same with you. Do you not stand up and sing, Jewels to me are gaudy toys, and gold but sordid dust? And yet you are just as fond of glittering as we are; your doctors of divinity pride themselves just as much in their D.D. as any of us with other titles. You are just as punctilious about terms of honor as any of us can be. You talk about carrying the cross; but we do not see it anywhere, except it be a golden cross sometimes hanging on your bosom. You say you are crucified to the world, and the world to you: it is a very merry sort of crucifixion. You say that you mortify your members and deny yourselves: your mortification must be suffered in secret, for it is but very little that we can see of it!’ Thus the worldling casts back to us our challenge, declaring that we are not sincere, and thus he comforts himself in his sin, and justifies himself in his iniquity.” How sad is that evaluation!?!

Evangelism – Because of a Needy World! But if the church in the world, the disciples in the world, the ministries in the world, reflect through themselves what they’ve seen in the worldly, what good does that do? Or maybe, better said: What damage does that do? The integrity of the Cross, the integrity of the name of Jesus, the integrity of a church’s ministry IS AT STAKE! What if the world looked on you, and all they saw was inconsistency? What if the world looked on you, and all they saw in you was vain pretense? What if the world around you looked upon your ‘profession’ and said: “It’s child’s play with him – nothing really sincere!”

We’re called to minister to a lost and dying world, not mingle and mix in with the world’s godless ways! We’re not called to feel at home where Satan dwells but to invade for the purpose of conquering not acquiescing, proclaiming not participating in aimless activity, witnessing not wilting in worldly partying that defames Jesus!

In Acts 17 Paul faithfully went into the cities, not to participate in their godly deceptions, but to “reason – to explain- to demonstrate That the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, (saying), “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ [Messiah]. The Jews WERE UPSET! In verse 6 they went to Jason’s home dragging him and other believers to the council of rulers saying, These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” That’s our calling in going into the world but not of it!

I’m telling you: true believers cannot view a godless world around them with an unconcerned countenance! The godless world is a needy world – and only Christ can meet its need! Deuteronomy 32:28-29 says, “For [the nations] are void of counsel, nor is there understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” Have you considered your latter end, your last days, or your scheduled appointment before the Holy Bar of God’s judgment?

Evangelism – Because of a Needy World! I want you to see the needy world in light of “Death”!

I’m not sorry about it but utterly sincere – you must hear the Truth! Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin IS death – and sin reigns in an unsaved world!

YOU are no stranger to “death” whether an unbeliever or a believer! Death does reign – and no person is exempt from death whether a believer or an unbeliever!

I don’t think ‘fallen man’ is aware of the very pains of death and its surroundings. Suffering, silence, strains, stings, dark shades, shame, strife, shakings, songs of grief, Satan happy, spiritual strokes without a solution for the sinner, stained with Satan’s marking: “MINE”!! Thomas Adams said, “The devil is no idle spirit, but a vagrant, runagate walker, that never rests in one place. – The motive, cause, and main intention of his walking is to ruin man. “He walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”

It’s an old Welsh proverb that is so on target: “The Devil has three children – pride, falsehood, and envy.” No doubt this is why God inspired I Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” by sight, by smell, and by spiritual sense you CAN discern to whom one belongs!

It was William Shakespeare in “Henry VIII,” who said, [Acts IV, sc.2, I, 68], “And, to add greater honors to his age than man could give him, he died fearing God.” In you, is there a holy fear of God or has the Devil deceived you?

I love what William Penn wrote in “Fruits of Solitude.” He said: “They that love ‘beyond the world,’ cannot be separated. Death cannot “kill” what “never” dies. Nor can Spirits ever be divided that love and live in the “same” Divine Principle; the Root and Record of their “friendship” [or kinship]. Death is but ‘crossing’ the ‘world’, as Friends do the Seas, they live in one another still.”

In Ezekial 18:23 God asks: “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” And the evangelist, the disciple, the witness, the ambassador representing God? He/she is announcing: “The soul who sins shall die!” Front row, back row, pulpit or pew! Mayor of the city or the famous “street-walker” of the city! Top teacher of the school or top student of the school! Bank president or cashier! Leading candidate or runner-up! “To be carnally minded is death!” [Romans 8”6].

Evangelism – Because Of A Needy World! I want you to see the needy world in light of DISTRACTION!

How easy for some on the journey of life that should be a journey of hope finding themselves in a hopeless state because they are distracted!

Yes, and that is because of our mutual sin nature! Human nature is in a fallen state away from God and is at variance with the Almighty! Human nature is not an effect of God’s creative genius but the effect of life based on a man’s selfish determination!

Human nature, because of the fall, has become an enemy of God, not His friend! Human nature, because of Adam’s sin and rebellion, has seen nation after nation birthing people wandering further and further away from Holy God. Human nature, fallen, alien to, and separated from God, has become a darkened sphere of a man’s self-rule, self- government, self-discernment, and self-pleasure that has left God out and written Him off, just as the nation called America is doing today!

Human nature is an inner voice of a fallen sin nature that opens the door to violating every law of God because the heart and mind is lawless! Human nature is the illicit fleshly handmaiden of one whose very being has rejected God – to this point! It doesn’t mean one has to remain in that Satanic bondage, ordered by the demon powers of Hell itself!

2 Peter 1:2-5 gives us hope! It says, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that THROUGH THESE you may be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” AMEN AND AMEN! GLORY BE TO GOD ALONE WHO IS EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US!

Evangelism – Because of a Needy World! I want you to see the needy world in light of its DOUBT!

Doubt is a grave-digger! Oh, I know it can be the stepping stone to faith and trust, but more often than not it is the friend of rebellion and tyranny.

Enoch Fitch Burr wrote a long time ago: “In the hands of unbelief half-truths are made to do the work of whole falsehoods. – The sowing of doubts is the sowing of dragon’s teeth, which ere long will sprout up into armed and hostile men.”

But TRUTH IS the conqueror of doubt! One looks at Jesus and sees, not doubt, but the Divine, anointed, appointed, Son of God, Immanuel – God in the flesh! Doubts may surface but Truth reigns supreme! Doubts may be announced but Truth arises to conquer! Doubts may shout out but Truth sings the song of salvation and deliverance!

In Matthew 14:31 Jesus said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And I believe that’s what our Lord asks all of us in the Body of Christ today, “Why did you doubt?”

I think William Robert Rodgers was on target in his writing called “Words.” He said: “Your doubts are the private detectives employed by your dislike, to make a case against change or choice.” You see, the Gospel gives you a choice for eternal change, but you doubt?

Evangelism – Because of a needy world! I want you to see the needy world in light of DENIAL!

2 Pater 2:1-3 tells us: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Denial will breed doubt! Doubt will produce denial! Both lead to a destructive state and will remain hopeless if they do not turn to Jesus in repentance and rest in His finished work AT CALVARY!

Earlier in 2 Peter 1:19 Peter talked about a light that shines in a dark place. That dark place is a place of denial of saving grace and mercy, but hope arises when “the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Do you remember the day our Lord and Savior was crucified? Matthew 27:45 says, “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.” Denial produces total darkness in one’s mind and heart!

Oh my! What joy! What delight! What amazing grace! In John 8 Jesus saw a ‘woman caught in adultery.’ The scribes and Pharisees had brought the woman to Jesus. He told her, “Go and sin no more – you’re not condemned!” Then Jesus said to all those who were around: Verse 12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Denial! Darkness! Despair! Then Jesus comes, Jesus knocks! “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

Evangelism – Because of a Needy World! I want you to see the needy world in light of its demands!

If you’re unsure of a needy world and its demands, just give one moment of thought to the serpent saying to Eve: “You will not surely die.”

Do you remember Moses and Aaron before Pharoah, ruler of Egypt? They told that the God of Israel said to let His people go. But Pharoah said in Exodus 5:2, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”

How does this happen? Modern times have not brought change to human hearts! In Romans 1:18-32 we read, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie [That’s, ‘you can sin and not die because of it’], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

So that’s it? We give up, slow down, count our losses, pat ourselves on the back and give up on meeting the needs of a needy world! Right? WRONG! Though God gave them over He didn’t give up – He gave His Son! Yes, the wages of sin IS death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! And we lift up our Redeemer, the world’s Savior and Lord, God’s gift to fallen humanity!

Has it changed? John 3:16! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Glory be to God! There’s hope for our needy world – TELL THEM!

CHAPTER EIGHT

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OF THE CALL FROM HURTING PEOPLE

As I was reading Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.252], I came across an interesting paragraph that spurred this chapter on hurting, sick, wounded people. He said: “Health is the balance between physical life and external nature, and it is maintained only by sufficient vitality on the inside against things on the outside. Everything outside my physical life is designed to put me to death. Things which keep me going when I am alive, disintegrate me when I am dead. If I have enough fighting power, I produce the balance of health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a vigorous mental life, I have to fight, and in that way the mental balance called thought is produced.”

Did he say, “mental balance called thought is produced”? And when YOU think about those with unbalanced mental thoughts, or thoughts about ‘I’m sick and I’m going to die,’ or ‘my wounds that are beyond physical but are mental, emotional, spiritual, are going to kill me or drive me crazy,’ or, ‘I’m a hopeless case, and there’s no one who can help me,’ do YOU step in? Do you have an answer? Do you know the remedy? Do you care?

As you examine yourself or evaluate the wounded, the ‘unbalanced,’ the sick, the lonely, the disturbed, the distressed, the alienated from God which is “MAJOR” in all physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual sickness, Jesus gives us vital words for our consideration: Luke 21:19, says, Jesus speaking, “By your patience [steadfastness] possess your souls.” He expanded our understanding of this when in verses 34-36 He said:

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing [or dissipation], drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape ALL THINGS that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” What a challenge!

In Job 5:18 we learn about the Living God being a “tester” of all peoples! It says, “For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.” Job even said in chapter 9, verse 17, “For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause.” Is the Living God up to something so huge beyond our immature understanding?

It was the wise man of Proverbs who wrote: [Proverbs 27:6], “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” There is something huge in the wind as God allows, yes, “wounds without cause,” or “the wounds of a friend.”

One thing is for sure: God is with us all to “save us, heal us, redeem us, complete us, fulfill us!” In Jeremiah 30:17 God says: “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds.” What a promise!

There are times when we wonder: Is God around in all this? In Proverbs 13:12 we read, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when desire comes, it is a tree of life.” There are times of “heart sickness” when one has avoided, even denied, the tree of life!

In Deuteronomy 28:58-63 God spoke specifically to Israel but in reality He speaks to all peoples. He said: “If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues – great and prolonged plagues – and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing [one of no value, meaning, or purpose]; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.”

Ezekial 34 speaks to “irresponsible shepherds” – that’s men appointed to feed God’s people, but their intent was on indulging themselves! Verse 4 says, “The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.” That’s a sad commentary on the false pastors in the world today who see themselves as “rulers” over God’s people!

As Jesus sent out the twelve, He said, [Matthew 10:7-8], “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Would that describe your church’s ministry today or the description of your pastoral care?

In Matthew 14:14 we read: “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”

I was a pastor for about 22 years before “missions” captured my heart and I began living on airplanes to India mostly, but also Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Kenya. I also ministered in the Philippines, Cambodia, and other Asian nations, plus Hong Cong and excursions into China. India had about 25 years of my life for which I am eternally thankful. I see there several billion people who will be touched by the Gospel through men I was privileged to challenge with His Word and Spirit!

Thoughts of India reminded me of John 5:5 where there was the man “who had an infirmity 38 years!” Listen: Verses 6-9, “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.” He learned of “Sabbath rest”! Have you?

Around you is a world filled with people who are wounded, warped, sick, demonized, plagued, wounded by friends, family, foes, forces of darkness, bruised, bound by the powers of darkness, lost, alienated from God and hope and blessing, mentally and morally and meaninglessly handicapped, slaves to that old sin nature and the one called the Devil, hopeless, sinfully sad, diseased in thought and void of Truth, giving the picture from themselves that they are helpless!

Do you remember Lazarus being sick? This was the brother of Martha and Mary. John 11:3 tells us the sisters sent to Jesus a message, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” John 11:4, When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Lazarus was raised from the dead!

All around you are the walking, spiritually dead people! All around you are the walking, crippled in motion and meaning, millions who have no hope but in Christ – and you are the messenger, you are the minister of healing grace, you are the bearer of the spiritual medicine that lifts up the fallen, brings healing to the sick, and prays him/her through, yes, at times, even the very valley of the shadow of death!

Do you understand, sense, are aware of, many, many people who are overcome by “a spirit of infirmity”? In Luke 13:10-17 we read, “Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.’ The Lord then answered him and said, ‘Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound – think of it – for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?’ And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”

I don’t know her exact illness – I know she had been bound by Satan for eighteen years! I know people who live, yes, willingly live with a willful binding spirit of despondency; others living with a disturbing recall and weight from true failures they can’t seem to get over; others I’ve seen sick with resentment, bitterness, and a hardness to the Spirit because they know unforgiveness and are not about to let go of it; others wouldn’t acknowledge it but they are crippled by that strong spirit of self, self-righteousness, a sickening self-confidence, self-reliance depending on no one or nobody; others are so corrupted in their minds that they’ve become bodily, mentally, emotionally, and, certainly, spiritually ill – odorous oaths, evil thoughts, irrational logic, blasphemous ideas – and they contemplate, rationalize, think: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver ME from this body of death?” I KNOW THE LORD AND SAVIOR WHO CAN REMOVE THE VILE AND MAKE IT PRECIOUS, GODLY, CHRIST-HONORING IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED!

Oh hear me! Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord speaks: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give YOU a future and a hope.” And then in Jeremiah 30:17 God gives every man a holy promise: “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: ‘This is Zion; no one seeks her.’” OH, but I say my Lord and Savior seeks out those who aren’t even looking! He wants to heal you, restore you, redeem you, empower you, raise you personally up to the cloud of His heavenly glory!

Do you understand the sickness of spiritual diseases called guilty consciences, self-inflicted wounds of a dismal outlook on life because of what one has engaged in, or embittered by situational circumstances, or wounded, stricken, afflicted in a godless conscience?

Have you witnessed around you a life shattered by vain hopes, the bankruptcy of life when one’s ‘faith’ was in their carnal security and it vanishes, a sense of hopelessness because of the falseness of self-love that brings despair, an absolute state of ,yes, fear, because one recklessly indulged their depraved appetites, lusts, and passions – and they’re ‘sick’? Thomas Carlyle once said: “The deadliest sins were the consciousness of no sin.” And the consciousness of no sin is awareness of the greatest sinner! That is deathly “sickness”!

Spiritual sickness and spiritual disease are the products of the ‘natural’ rebelling against the Divine and self-control, self-assertiveness, and self-promotion demoting God and elevating ‘self’ and a sinful nature as one’s joint ruler, producing ‘sickness’ only healed by repentance toward God and true faith in the shed blood of the Lamb of God!

“Shock treatment”? Have you heard of it? The Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has announced clearly that man’s goodness and his sin are worthy only of being nailed to His Cross, covered and washed away by His blood! What did Paul say? “I am crucified with Christ”! That’s my rebellious self, my religious self, my sinful self, my ‘good’ self, my evil self, my personally ambitious self, concerned only about me, my, or mine! The “Rock of Ages” classic hymn truly says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Your cross I cling.”

It was William Cowper, in “The Progress of Error, [L.613], who wrote: “The Cross! There, and there only (though the deist rave, And atheist, if Earth bears so base a slave); There and there only, is the power to save.” Yes, there and there only is the eternal answer to the heart-cry of hurting, sick, lonely people!

Sin is sickness! Sin brings hurts, pains, diseases, and self-destruction! Sin is death – but through Jesus God gives us the power to raise the dead and witness the indwelling of resurrection life, resurrection hope, and resurrection power!

Oswald Chambers said, “The evidence that I am delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me.” But the blood of Jesus is God’s eternal transfusion of life evermore in Christ! David wrote in Psalm 103:1-5 marvelous words:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

I remember my dear friend, Bob Phillips, telling us a story years ago. Bob had been co-founder, co-pastor with David Wilkerson at Times Square Church in New York City. He resigned, I believe, after about ten years serving with David, and moved, I think, to Wyoming, where he owned some land. He loved walking in the hilly, mountainous areas around his home, but one day he was out and heard this horrible, terrible, squeaking, alarming sound. He didn’t know what it was, but he asked a neighbor who’d been there a long time. The man shared that it was the cries of an eagle. When they’re older their wings become very heavy to the point that they can’t fly. Then the eagle begins one by one to painfully pull out every weighty feather to allow new growth. Bob went out the next day to find where that eagle had landed in order to soar again – and he found it, not the eagle, but the bloody mess with dried feathers covering the ground where, painfully, it went through its transformation! Have you pulled out yet all in you that keeps you from soaring in the heavenly places?

In Psalm 90:8-10 we read: “You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; we finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Tell me: Have you pulled any feathers lately?

CHAPTER NINE

EVANGELISM – UNVEILING OUR LORD AND SAVIOR

In John 12, as Jesus was contemplating His coming crucifixion, He told the people around Him in John 12:25-26, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

Then He began to pray! Verses 27-28 says: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

In verse 32 Jesus then said: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all ‘peoples’ to Myself.” The basis of eternal Redemption and Reconciliation with Holy God does not come through good deeds, good religions, or good efforts by men, but only an encounter with and experiencing of the crucified and resurrected Christ “in us, the hope of glory”!

Oh, I know that there are multitudes who are satisfied with their lives without God but Jesus came to put a sword in the heart of man’s speculations about his life without Him. When it comes to life, when it comes to eternal purpose, when it comes to fleshly determinations about how to be “happy” in this world, understand that Jesus came, not to make you ‘happy’, but to usher you in to a state of eternal rightness with God through “the Blood” of the Lamb of God shed on Calvary’s Cross and to “bless” you!

As Paul was closing his epistle to the Galatians, he wrote in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Then in verse 17 he said, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” So what did Paul do? Go to a “tattoo” artist? I don’t think so!

In I John 5:4-5 the beloved disciple wrote: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

In verses 11-14 of I John 5 we have before us eternal words inspired by God’s Holy Spirit! The Word says, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Then in verse 20 John is closing out his letter and he writes: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.”

I am sure there are those you rub shoulders with every day who have absolutely no interest in who Jesus is and what He did for them at the Cross! But Jesus knows their need, knows their bondage, knows how they were so deceived, knows the depths of their spiritual poverty, knows their ‘testy’ temperaments, knows their defiance of spiritual Truth, knows their substitutions for Him that lead only to eternal emptiness, eternal slavery, and eternal domination over them by Satan and the powers of darkness!

So Jesus says anyway: Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The displacement of God’s rule from one’s life produces disintegration not wholeness nor peace nor eternal purpose; disintegration, yes, even a spiritual death, providing one with a dark cloud of self-importance, self-goals, that only instigates even more self-pity that delights the devil and his armies!

When Jesus is allowed into one’s mind, heart, spirit, and body, He releases a perfect ‘tidal wave’ of heavenly peace, an overwhelming awareness of eternal, Godly love, a practical, understandable vision of what it means to be ONE with Him, in Him, through Him!

You and I are no different than the early disciples who walked with Jesus on troubled streets or with Him on stormy seas in life. In Matthew 8:23-27 we read, Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Do you understand the full meaning of Jesus Christ as the “storm-stopper”? Do you experience, not on the Pacific or Atlantic oceans, but those restless, stormy, tumultuous times in your journey – and you wonder what they are all about? Could it be, not what the stormy seas are all about, but what Jesus Christ is all about, yes, in YOU? No faith, ‘little faith’, some faith, doubtful faith, a troubled faith? Is that what you are all about or, because of the winds and storms and violent currents of your life, have you ever called out to the “Calmer of storms” whose name is Jesus Christ?

What a delight to the Lord Jesus when a troubled soul looks out of itself and in to the very eyes of Jesus! What a delight to Him when He senses that another soul is turning in confidence and assurance to Him! I’ll tell you: You don’t have to get to your wit’s end to seek out Jesus, but if that is what it takes for you, so be it, if YOU are brought, not to the brink, but willfully plunging into that sea of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ alone! Jesus said it several times, “I must be about My Father’s business.” Whose business are you after? Self or the Savior?

There is a promise in I John 1:7 that should excite you. It says: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Did you receive that? Do you believe that? Will you rest in that eternal Truth? Oh, I know that a lot of men admit to casual sin in their lives at times, but confronted by the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, broken-hearted men begin to repent because they see what their sin cost Jesus in His suffering and death on the Cross!

Have you failed to understand that Jesus Himself is the only propitiation or satisfaction for our sin-debt as He shed His blood on the cruel Cross? John 1:29 says: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

In verses 32-34 we read that John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

I really am amazed as I read words from Paul the Apostle when he said in Philippians 3:10, “that I may KNOW Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” The call upon lost humanity, alienated and separated from God is “that I may know Him;” the call upon every pastor, believer, disciple, missionary, servant, member of the Holy Family of God is “that [we] may know Him.”

But far too many men are on a journey to know themselves and how they can enjoy and profit from their lost state of faith! Far too many have never considered, “Christ in [them], the hope of glory.” If a man’s slightest thought is on how he conquers his world and not how he’s to be conquered by the Lamb of God, he becomes a man destined for fleshly, sin-nature loyalty, loyal to himself, denying Christ as Lord and Savior and Master of his life, and he lives standing on a thin thread over the pit of Hell, soon to be admitted there!

There’s another choice, another option, another Way! Look to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith! You may be a transgressor, but Jesus is reaching out to you! You may be the sinner, but He’s YOUR Savior! You may be bound by your iniquity, but Jesus shed His blood to break the chains! It’s amazing to me that at times the world itself will cast out or imprison the great offender of human decency, but Jesus comes to say, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Outcasts by human societies are our Lord’s opportunities to express His love, His grace, and His mercy! If Christ Jesus is our only hope, and we receive the Truth, then the outcome is the death of doubt and our reception of the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! Hasn’t God said: “This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” but you’re not sure?

In Isaiah 42 we read a prophetic Word about the coming Christ! It says: “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles [that’s you and me!]. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law.” Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it; I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

The Lord God has done what? He tells us 700 years before He comes that the Suffering Servant will win the battle over the powers of darkness and set the captives free!

In Lamentations 3:19-26 Jeremiah prophetically tells us of “the salvation of the Lord” as he personally walked through personal anguish and even loss. He said: “Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; ‘Great is Your faithfulness.’ The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore I hope in Him!”

If Jesus was sovereignly sent by Holy God to bring about our Redemption and Reconciliation, and He did, [It’s prophecy fulfilled, it’s historical reality, and it’s personally verified!], but you are unsure? Hear me! Spurgeon said: “If the Lord Jesus Christ be no common person, but nothing less than God Himself, who shall doubt His power to save?” [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 14, p.279].

Ephesians 1:7 is so powerful and informative! Paul wrote: “In Him [in Christ Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, according to the riches of His grace.” But you believe God must have suffered ‘heavenly bankruptcy’ because His riches of grace are not available to you? I tell you, the angels sing daily about His amazing grace; disciples, like Paul, stand in a constant graced stature because of His amazing grace; and pastors, missionaries, disciples world-wide still ring out His amazing grace!

Have you witnessed troubled souls who encounter the compassionate Lord and Savior and experience constantly, yes, peace in the inner man? Didn’t He say, “My peace I give to you?” Didn’t He say He opens the very door to the Holy Presence of God? Isn’t there the promise of a defeated Devil and the powers of darkness? Aren’t we assured of abiding presence of the resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords in us, and we need not fear? What did Paul say to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:12? “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that HE IS ABLE to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

There were no doubts in Paul concerning assurance that Jesus was able to keep him. There were no hesitations about the Blood of the Lamb to wash him white as snow. There were no roadblocks in Paul’s mind concerning Jesus raising him out of that grave of spiritual death. There was no hesitation in Paul but full assurance that His Savior and Lord interceded in Paul’s behalf before the very throne of God! He was awed by Christ’s undying love for him, by His Savior’s unceasing, fully available, omnipotent power! “I KNOW whom I have believed…!” Do you?

In Colossians 2:8-10 Paul wrote: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; AND YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.”

It was William E. Biederwolf who said: “A man who can read the New Testament and not see that Christ claims to be more than a man, can look all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see the sun.” So very, very true!

I didn’t write it and don’t know who did but they wrote: “Matthew presents Jesus as the Royal Savior; Mark, as the Servant of man; Luke, as the Son of man; John, as Son of God.”

And it is so true: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, grant new life, give eternal hope, and hold us in His holy hands forever!

Jesus IS “the Light of the world” that is in such terrible darkness! Jesus is the crucified, buried, and raised from the dead Lord and Savior! Jesus is the exact image of the one true and living God – God’s perfect representation! Jesus is mankind’s only hope! He IS the righteousness of God! Jesus is God’s unspeakable gift to a fallen world with the grace in Him to raise us out of our spiritual death!

Jesus IS the King of love who is my Shepherd. Jesus is the wisdom of God and very power of God. Jesus is the joy of our salvation, the true fountain of living water, our “bliss-Blesser”, the tree of eternal life, our very Resurrection from the dead! Jesus IS “the Man of sorrows” so acquainted with our grief! Jesus is the guiltless Blood shed for all guilty men like us!

Jesus IS the Name above all names! It was J. Wilbur Chapman who wrote: “I know of a world that is sunk in shame, Where hearts oft faint and tire; But I know of a Name, a precious Name, That can set that world on fire: Its sound is sweet, its letters flame. I know of a Name, a precious Name, ‘Tis Jesus.” Holy is His Name! Miraculous is His Name! Powerful is His Name! Eternal Hope and Sovereign Help is His Name!

E.E. Hewitt wrote: “More about Jesus I would know, More of His graces to others show; More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for me.”

Jesus IS the Great Physician, the Healer of broken, bound, bruised hearts! Jesus IS the Son of God! Jesus IS the eternal Soldier of the Cross where He waged the battle for our forgiveness and won! Jesus is the One who dispels darkness even in the human heart! Jesus is, becomes, and continues to “shine” as the Sunlight of our souls! Though His head was crowned with thorns for the Cross, He won our victory over sin and death, and now wears that incorruptible crown!

Jesus IS the sovereign Seer knowing your end from your beginning! He’s the Savior of souls, He’s their Bread of life and eternal hope, He’s their Strength to overcome, He’s our unspeakable Gift that we treasure, He’s our ALL IN ALL, He’s our healing grace of our sorrows, our wounds, our fears, and our doubts!

“All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, To crown Him Lord of all!”

There is no understanding for human history without the knowledge and saving grace of Jesus Christ! The absence of Christ in a human heart, family, present or future, is the acknowledgement one prefers darkness over light, sin and eternal death over forgiveness and eternal life, and one’s ‘fleshly’ best over God’s countless blessings!

It was Lew Wallace who wrote: “After six years given to the impartial investigation of Christianity, as to its truth or falsity, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world, and my personal Savior.” AMEN?

Jesus Christ is the Truth that never wavers or changes or is covered over or hidden. HE IS THE TRUTH!

Isaac Watts, in his “The Psalms of David,” wrote: “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun, Does His successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore Till moons shall wax and wane no more.”

I love what John Wesley wrote in his “Christian Perfection.” He said: “The holiest of men still need Christ as their Prophet, as “the light of the world.” For He does not give them light but from moment to moment; the instant He withdraws, all is darkness. They still need Christ as their King, for God does give them a stock of holiness. But unless they receive a supply every moment, nothing but unholiness would remain. They still need Christ as their Priest, to make atonement for their holy things. Even perfect holiness is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ.”

How wise was Henry Benjamin Whipple who long ago wrote wisely: “All we want in Christ, we shall find in Christ. If we want little, we shall find little. If we want much, we shall find much; but if, in utter helplessness, we cast our all on Christ, He will be to us the whole treasury of God.” AMEN?

CHAPTER TEN

EVANGELISM – THE GIFT OF PEACE FOR A TROUBLED WORLD

In a “natural” world where the Supernatural is frowned upon, trouble is the name of the game! Even in a small community of, say, two hundred people you’ll find “wars” are seemingly a part of life! Pain, heartache, fear, desperate circumstances, appalling relationships with ‘friends’ or even family, marital nightmares, rebellious teen-agers, mental anguish, business failure, character assassination without cause, pettiness, and, yes, scandalous treatment, verbal abuse, distresses that appear so deadly, persecution for His name’s sake, sharp and painful reactions from the friend who sells you short, the mate that is constantly and unmercifully critical, battered by the bitter, surrounded by many who are so angry, so explosive in their natures, so impulsive in their actions, and, yes, so evil in their intents!

Has there ever been that moment when you knew you just had to cry out to God and keep on crying out because you were so surrounded by the troubles of fallen humanity or even by the troubles of ‘professing believers’ or an international crisis that would mean your sons and daughters may have to go to war, or that “the cares of this world” were multiplying exponentially, or that racial strife was becoming an unstable situation with even deadly results?

How deep does grief and sorrow have to be before we reach out of ourselves for help? I really think that we all must come to an understanding about whether our trouble is the handiwork of God to shape us in His likeness or is it trouble wrought by troubling men and women who are so unstable themselves that in their actions they don’t even know they are denying the sovereignty of God!

But then also we must consider if what we’re facing in our troubling moments is OUR habitual disregard of life in The Spirit or self-hatred that has really become God’s enemy in us!

Job knew what he was talking about when in Job 5:7 he said, “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” But the psalmist gives us hope as we read in Psalm 46:1-7, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help of trouble [or time of need]. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn? That sounds to me like a night of trouble, a night of spiritual darkness and conflict, a night when even a man of faith at times wonders if he will see the light of day.

The Christian faith knows no abiding truth greater than God’s promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” There are times one wants to ‘panic’ but He says, “Be not afraid.” There are times one wants to hide, but God says, “Come to Me.” There are times when trouble is so tumultuous one wonders if the safest place is in a grave, having been made foolish in thought by a non-blushing Devil!

Do you remember James Russell Lowell’s “The Present Crisis”? He wrote: “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.” Trouble is real! By God’s Spirit and His Word we must discern that it’s God’s open door for our good or the Devil for our bad. And what a promise Jesus gives us when in John 16:13 He said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” Thank God for the Holy Spirit of Truth!

Are you sensitive at all to the ridiculous AND holy revelation? Are you aware of the difference between ‘handicapped by flesh’ and ‘enlightened by the Spirit’? Do you discern easily between that which is superstition and that which is Sacred? Do you contemplate at all the danger of idolatry compared with the safety of the blessing of the one true and living God? Are you able to easily identify ‘play actors’ with God’s true children of saving faith?

Harold Cooke Phillips wrote: “This coming to know Christ is what makes Christian truth redemptive truth, the truth that transforms, not just the truth that informs.”

Yes, our world is filled with informative languages and words and schemes, but is there the Truth that is “The Gift of Peace For A Troubled World”? Yes, we have “Good News,” we have “redemptive Truth,” we have the “Living Savior and Lord,” we have the offering of “the gift of peace” that comes from Jesus only!

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote in “Miriam” these words: “We search the world for truth. We cull the good, the pure, the beautiful, From graven stone and written scroll, From all old flower-fields of the soul; And, weary seekers of the best, We come back laden from the quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read.” How true!

But there is a problem in our troubled world and some have no interest in the “gift of peace”! In Jeremiah 6:10 the prophet heard God speak: “To whom shall I speak and give warning,that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” As a result God said in verse 14, “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.”

You do understand that there are multitudes who believe they have peace because they’re free to do as they please, they think they have peace because they’re able to go from one sinful pleasure to the next, able to immerse themselves in lascivious madness, able to dance the dance of frivolity – no worth, no value, no eternal importance, just immersed in triflingness and silliness and sinfulness as a ‘part of the crowd’! “Peace, peace!” when there is no peace!” Yet the ‘play-actors’ of the modern day spiritually are those planted in the “hot-beds of hypocrisy”, meaning even some preachers who say, “Do as I say – not as I do”!

“THE GIFT OF PEACE FOR A TROUBLED WORLD”? Aroused to evangelize? In Romans 3:21-24 we read, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Troubled world? Because of sinful, Godless hearts! And the church has no mandate about that? Preachers of churches today have no biblical basis to raise up a church that evangelizes?

Troubled world? Because of Christ-less lives! But the eternal gospel of the grace of God is an ineffective ministry? The eternal gospel is now bankrupt and void of saving grace?

Troubled world? Because “justification” by many in the church is unimportant since they want the stain of sin remaining upon their religious cover with no real desire to live the victorious life over sin! Justification is what? Acceptance by God “just as if I’d never sinned”because of the power of the Blood Jesus shed on the Cross!

Troubled world? Hear Oswald Chambers! [“My Utmost For His Highest”, p.247], “The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ….As long as we are rich [in ourselves!] possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us.”

Troubled world? Aren’t you aware that there is across the broad border of humanity a total disinterest in any expression of respect for or even a little love and appreciation of Him? His holiness, His righteousness, His purity, seems to the worldly to call for an obligation they are not willing to accept.

Troubled world? Don’t you know divine demands spoil a man’s self-determining control? Surrender? Submit? Obey? Follow His lead? “I’m self-willed, self-motivated, self-controlled, and I’ll determine for myself what I am, what I wish to do, and what I know I’m capable of! Who needs God?”

Oh, but hear me! The heart of this chapter is: Evangelize – Because of the Gift of Peace For a Troubled World! The troubled world is not the heart of ministry but the heart of God is the Gift of Peace!

What does Jeremiah 29:11 tell us? God speaking, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Do you receive it? “Thoughts of peace and not of evil.”

In John 14:25-27 Jesus is speaking to us, to you, to our world: “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

What an awesome word from our Loving Lord whose passion is YOUR PEACE! Haven’t you noticed? He speaks to instill heavenly peace in every man! Nothing distracts Jesus – He grants peace! Nothing deters Jesus – He desires your perfect peace! Nothing disturbs Jesus – “Let not your heart be troubled”!

I don’t know who wrote it but it speaks a powerful word to me: “Oh how sweet to view the flowing of my Savior’s precious blood, With divine assurance knowing He has made my peace with God.”

In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul tells us: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

That’s peace on your life, on your brain, on your walk of faith, on your family, on your marriage relationship, on your friends and neighbors, on your nation, on your witnessing ministry, on your missionary activity, on your maturing growth in the fullness of Christ!

But I believe also that a soul-saver is a peacemaker! Extending His Life, expressing His love, proving His power to save is a great calling and great ministry! And I don’t believe God will keep in perfect peace voiceless witnesses!

It is so true that peace is not the absence of spiritual warfare, but because of peace in the inner man, that man wants to fight the good fight of faith and extend Jesus’ Kingdom in the hearts of others.

It was Henry van Dyke, in “What Peace Means,” who wrote: “The Bible teaches us that there is no foundation for enduring peace on earth, except in righteousness; that it is our duty to suffer for that cause if need be; that we are bound to fight for it if we have the power; and that if God gives us the victory we must use it for the perpetuation of righteous peace.” That’s peace in a life, peace in a marriage, peace in a ministry, peace in a church, peace in a home, peace in a city and state, peace in a nation border to border, peace across the world!

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote: “Drop Your still dews of quietness till all our striving cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Your Peace.”

Yes, it is a peace that passes all understanding! Taste it! You’ll like it!

H.G.Spafford and P.P.Bliss teamed together on the glorious old hymn entitled “It Is Well With My Soul.” It says:

“When PEACE, like a river, attends my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll; Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul..

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And has shed His own blood for my soul..

My sin – oh, the bliss of this glorious thought – My sin – not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul..

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, ‘Even so’ – it is well with my soul..

It is well…with my soul…It is well, It is well with my soul.”

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

“EVANGELISM – THE GIFT OF PEACE FOR A TROUBLED WORLD!!”

I pray this deepens your understanding of the heart of God through His gift of peace and deepen your reverence for His holy Name! I pray your devotion, commitment, and sharing of His mission will intensify, and that YOU “rest” in the confidence and assurance that His Word though you will find fertile ground in the hearts of troubled men that you touch!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EVANGELISM – ANGELIC REJOICING

I don’t exactly know the time, maybe 15-20 years ago, Dwayne Weehunt and his wife, Leslie, and I, had felt led to travel to the most central city of India to lead a pastors’ conference. It was held in a large English Episcopal church, and we were thrilled to see 600-700 pastors in the meeting.

There was a local India music group leading worship – and for our first time we heard them singing “Hill Song” music out of England – and we were thrilled! We’d never heard “Hill Song” music in America but here we were in Central India hearing glorious song! In the middle of worship I looked to my left toward a side door, and there appeared a shadow of a 10-12 foot “Angel” looking over the packed church! I quietly turned to Dwayne and Leslie to say, “Do you see what I see?” And they said, “Yes!” I told them that presence of an angel was God’s assurance to us that we were going to have an awesome week! I must say to you that this has been, in my 77 years, the only angel I have witnessed, but I know Hebrews 13:2 is TRUTH: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.”

I just want you to know that there is nothing commonplace about being in the presence of God, but when “Angels” appear you have truly stepped into the Holy Presence of God Almighty that the angels bow before and worship! Angelic presence is the assurance that Holy God is at work near you, in you, through you, for His glory and honor.

Angelic presence is not happen-chance but I believe a divine appointment! And I surely don’t believe “angelic presence” is just man’s ‘active energy’ trying to express itself in redemptive fashion! Through angelic presence God Almighty is stamping His name, His purpose, and His calling upon the ‘chosen’s’ life! And many a man has witnessed personal life change because an angel of God appeared!

Omnipresence, though it needs no re-enforcement, is “super-charged” by the presence of God’s angelic armies! Isn’t it written that “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”? And, I tell you, I’m convinced that “shadow of the Almighty” is a strong angelic presence!

There is much rejoicing when a man knows he is in the omnipresence of holy God “super-charged” by that, yes, presence of divine angels! That’s not the commonplace but the very celestial, not a deceiving presence but divine presence. If “the pure in heart” shall see God, is it His divine will that men see and receive angelic ministry?

John Calvin, in “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” wrote: “The angels are the dispensers and administrators of the Divine beneficence toward us; they regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befall us.” Amen?

Do you grasp one who is an “overseer”? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary defines an “overseer” as a ‘supervisor’ or like an ‘overseer of a plantation’ – and it’s sure God wants you super-productive in the “fruit of the Spirit” – so He assigns us an angel or two!

In Genesis 28:10-12 we read about Jacob: “Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”

Question! A dream or a divine visitation by holy angels? An assurance of God’s oversight through the angels or just fictitious imagination? Jacob named the place Bethel which means ‘house of God,’ but you’re unsure the ‘house of God’ houses angels?

If you haven’t learned it yet in your own life, you need to hear it now! God is intent in watching over you, protecting you, yes, even fighting for you at times in spiritual warfare that you, more than likely, were totally unaware! If man was made ‘a little lower than the angels,’ are they high enough over us and strong enough to protect, even if we don’t know they’re there in our time of trouble?

I love what John Milton wrote in “Paradise Lost,” [Book VII, L. 569]! He wrote: “For God will deign to visit oft the dwellings of just men Delighted, and with frequent intercourse Thither will send His winged messengers on errands of supernatural grace.”

In Isaiah 40:1 God says: “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” says your God; and do you believe that included in the command of holy God is instruction for the ministry of angels? If a word of encouragement is needed on the spot, in the height of an anxious moment, as his people are being squeezed by the powers of darkness, or stress on the job or in the marriage, does God send an angel to you?

In Psalm 91:11 the Holy Word says, unbeliever, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” Interference just may be divine interference from God for the saving of your soul, your marriage, or even maybe your ministry!

Do you remember or recall Daniel in the lions’ den? Daniel was not a weak man but strong in his faith, and even though in that lions’ den, there was a calmness and a peace because of assurance that God was with him and stronger than any earthly lion he faced. But weak men are not confident but fearful, not troubled by shallow regrets but assured of holy presence, not at peace but living in an agitated state explained by the absence of God in their lives, and, certainly no angels to help! But Daniel 6:22 says, “My God has sent His angel, and has shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me…” That’s why Hebrews 11:33 tells us: “Through faith…shut or stopped the mouths of lions.”

In Maclaren’s “Exposition of Holy Scriptures,” including Daniel, [pps. 82-83], Maclaren writes: “Faith may or may not bring external deliverances, such as it brought to Daniel; but the good cheer which this story brings us does not depend on these. When Paul lay in Rome, shortly before his martyrdom, the experience of Daniel was in his mind, as he thankfully wrote to Timothy, ‘I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.’ He adds a hope which contrasts strangely, at first sight, with the clear expectation of a speedy and violent death, expressed a moment or two before (‘I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come’) when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver me from every evil work’; but he had learned that it was possible to pass through the evil and yet to be delivered from it, and that a man might be thrown to the lions and devoured by them, and yet be truly shielded from all harm from them. So he adds, ‘And will save me unto His heavenly kingdom,’ thereby teaching us that the true deliverance which carries us into, or something nearer towards, the eternal home. Thus understood, the miracle of Daniel’s deliverance is continually repeated to all who partake of Daniel’s faith, ‘Thou hast made the Most High your habitation…you shall tread upon the lion and adder.’”

This isn’t ‘personal wisdom,’ but a partial insight that he stood upon, and, as a result birthed full faith to face in peace even the wild beasts! But I know you are aware that many men will not allow themselves to be: “Touched By An Angel”!

I was reading Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Two Voices,” in his “Tennyson’s Works,” [p.31]; “I said, ‘When first the world began, Young Nature thro’ five cycles ran, and in the sixth she moulded man.

‘She gave him mind, the lordliest proportion, and, above the rest, dominion in the head and breast.’

Thereto the silent voice replied: ‘Self-blinded are you by your pride; Look up thro’ night: the world is wide.

‘This truth within your mind rehearse, That in a boundless universe Is boundless better, boundless worse.

‘Think you this mould of hopes and fears Could find no statelier than his peers in yonder hundred million spheres?’

It spake, moreover, in my mind: ‘Tho’ you were scattered to the wind, Yet is there plenty of the kind.’

Then did my response clearer fall: ‘No compound of this earthly ball Is like another, all in all.’

To which he answered scoffingly: ‘Good soul! Suppose I grant it to you, Who’ll weep for your deficiency?

‘Or will one beam be less intense, When your peculiar difference is canceled in the world of sense?’

I would have said, ‘You cannot know,’ But my full heart, that worked below, Rained through my sight its overflow.

Again the voice spoke unto me: ‘You are so steeped in misery, Surely t’were better not to be.

‘Your anguish will not let you sleep, Nor any train of reason keep; You cannot think, but you will weep.’”

And as I read this ‘poem’ of Tennyson, I wondered, “how many men ‘cannot know,’ ‘will not know’, because one becomes cemented in fleshly reason rather than divine revelation?” “How many worldly men will entertain “demons” but deny angelic presence around them?” How many men, yes, worldly men, will shun angels and entertain the demons of Hell? Sadly, even in the ‘church’, supposedly ‘godly men’ will welcome the devil and in a pretense and sham and false profession deny the Savior and close the door on Him! Didn’t Jesus say to some churches, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”? Why? Because some prefer the demons over the Divine Jesus – their profession is a sham and a pretense and counterfeit acknowledgement!

But not the angels! In Revelation 5:11-12 we read, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”

And the Worthy Lamb makes available to you multitudinous blessings as an overflow of His mind and heart for you! And if it’s true of Jesus and us, is it true of the angels and is it their desire, their mission, their ministry, to pour out on YOUR LIFE power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing out of the very overflow of God’s heart?

Revelation 7:9 tells us of the heavenly host – and I have no doubt it is the enormous number of born-again believers through the blood of Christ, but also a host of angels who celebrate Christ Jesus! “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands..” And they’re blessing Jesus!

Do you even sense or believe that Almighty God is concerned about you after you die? “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.” But listen to Jude 9! “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you.” Yes! Angels even contending and protecting our dead bodies – they’ll not be defiled by even a touch of the devil or one of his demons! Spurgeon said that “the guardianship of the bodies of the saints by angels proves that they shall rise again from the dead,” and raising our bodies from the dead to receive glorified bodies puts true believers in the praise and worship mode! Without Christ as Lord and Savior unbelievers receive the cruelty of the devil and his demon powers! That is not a good thing!

Why? Matthew 25:41 is Jesus telling us why one should not desire death as an unbeliever but a true believer washed in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus describes what is ahead for one who denies Saving Faith, Divine Grace, and Amazing Mercy: “Then he says to them on his left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

The devil and his angels? Remember! They rebelled and appointed themselves to be the head and the fallen angels controlling eternal hell! They reign in eternal pain, eternal darkness, eternal fire…and not a word of protest is allowed! A fallen angel and an unbelieving evil spirit share an eternity in a forever suffering mode!

In 2 Peter 2:4-14 the anointed disciple has shared a strong word for fallen angels and unbelievers! He wrote: “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those afterward who would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) – then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.”

Have you come to a full understanding of what it means, even if you were angel-like, to hear those painful words? “Depart you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels?” How scary to me, how frightening – yes, a divine ‘wake-up’ call! But many ignore Holy Scripture, ignore the words of Jesus, and ignore the evangelists’ powerful voices and words!

I close this chapter with words from the great English preacher of the past, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, from “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [pps. 274-275],

“Many of you will go away and laugh, and call me, as I remember once being called before, “a hell-fire parson.” Well, go; but you will see the hell-fire preacher one day in heaven, perhaps, and you yourselves will be cast out; and looking down thence, with reproving glance, it may be that I shall remind you that you heard the Word, and listened not to it. Ah! Men, it is a light thing to hear it; it will be hard enough to bear it. You listen to me now unmoved; it will be harder work when death gets hold of you, and you lie roasting in the fire [and cannot, will not die, forever!!]. Now you despise Christ; you won’t despise Him then. Now you can waste your Sabbaths; then you would give a thousand worlds for a Sabbath if you could but have it in heaven. Now you can scoff and jeer; there will be no scoffing or jeering then; you will be shrieking, howling, wailing for mercy; but: ‘There are no acts of pardon passed in the cold grave to which we haste; But darkness, death, and long despair, Reign in eternal silence there.”

Where? There! With Satan and his demon-angels! With Satan in eternal darkness in the death that will not die!

But in Christ Jesus, as one is translated into His eternal Presence, there is the hosts of heaven filled with born-again believers and ten thousand times ten thousands of thousands of angels – and you, in Christ, celebrate with them!

Shakespeare, in “Hamlet,” [Act V, sc.2, I. 371] wrote: “And flights of angels sing you to your rest!” Yes! In “Hymn to the Beautiful” Richard Henry Stoddard wrote:

“Around our pillows golden ladders rise, And up and down the skies, With winged sandals shod, The angels come, and go, the Messengers of God.” Amen?

What did Hebrews 13:2 tell us? “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”!!**

CHAPTER TWELVE

EVANGELISM – HOLY SPIRIT ANOINTING

There are two quotes that I want to begin this chapter with because wiser men than me have witnessed the awesomeness and compassion of the Holy Spirit in mighty ways. The first quote is Henry Ward Beecher who once wrote: “I should as soon attempt to raise flowers if there were no atmosphere, or produce fruits if there were neither light nor heat, as to regenerate men if I did not believe there was a Holy Ghost.”

The second quote is E. Paul Hovey’s writing: “The word “comforter” as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally, it means “with strength.” Jesus promised His followers that “The Strengthener” would be with them forever. This promise is no lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.”

My heart literally breaks because I sense in the Church in America an almost complete abandonment of evangelism through, yes, a refusal to accept and be led by the Holy Spirit! Many believe the “Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled life” is something freakish that they want no part of!

In Acts 19:1-6 we learn about religious men who were void of a Spirit-filled life! It says: “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with other tongues and prophesied.”

The Holy Spirit? We serve a Triune God! God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! Same God but expressed in three powerful ways: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit? J.B. Phillips, in “Plain Christianity,” [p.104, Epworth Press, 1957], wrote: “Every time we say, ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,’ we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.”

But one of the early tragic words about the Holy Spirit is found in Genesis 6:3 where God speaks: And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh [or fallen sin nature!].” And I wonder now, in the 21^st Century, what God is presently saying as He looks down on a world of rebellion and disobedience, multitudinous lives void of Saving Grace and the in-filling and anointing of the Spirit of God! Will He still strive with humanity?

Also one wonders about even the ‘Church’ in these last days. Are the spiritual movements of today really the signature of the Holy Spirit or simply the best efforts of religious activity? Please, please, tell me of the supernatural, the heavenly anointing, the miraculous activity of the Holy Spirit who is truly welcomed!

In John 16:13-15, Jesus is speaking: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

I WANT YOU TO SEE FIRST THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO CONVICT US OF SIN FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED! Earlier in John 16 Jesus said the following: Verses 5-11, “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Do you understand that when Jesus spoke these words He was fully aware of the sin nature in us all that weakens, destroys eternal intent in us, and causes that sin nature to put the sentence of death upon us all? And around you is a world filled with the walking dead – spiritually – who desperately need re-birth into Christ’s Kingdom! Romans 6:23, “..For the wages of sin is death..” Front row of a church, platform, hospital, university, high school, grammar school, busy business, the athletic fields of endeavor – “the wages of sin is death!”

In Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.248], he wrote the following: “The pietistic movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them; there is nothing about them that needs the Death of Jesus Christ; all that is required is a pious atmosphere, and prayer and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural or miraculous, it did not cost the passion of God, it is not dyed in the blood of the Lamb, not stamped with the hall-mark of the Holy Ghost; it has not that mark on it which makes men say, as they look with awe and wonder – ‘That is the work of God Almighty.’ That and nothing else is what the New Testament talks about.”

Have you come to an understanding of “the blood Atonement”? In I John 1:6-7 we read: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Oh, and then verse 8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Are you walking in darkness or have you chosen to walk in the Light? Darkness hides – Light reveals! Darkness deceives – Light unveils the Truth! Darkness binds – Light releases! Darkness enslaves – Light opens the prison door! Darkness binds – Light frees! Darkness declares fleshly perfection, no need of a Savior – Light declares ‘You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free!’

THE “OIL” OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OURS FOR HEALING GRACE! In James 5:14-16 we read: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

I do not know how one who has been healed body, soul, and spirit, has nothing to rejoice about. Healing grace is the handiwork of God through His Holy Spirit! In Psalm 45:7b, the psalmist said: “Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than your companions.”

Our bodies are not for selfish purposes, but for saintly praise! Our bodies are not for our fleshly conveniences but for Godly glory and honor! Our bodies are not for the housing of selfish ambition but for the Savior’s exaltation! Our bodies are called in the Word as “the temples of the Holy Spirit”! And He doesn’t abide there for our convenience but for Christ’s glory, honor, and praise!

In Romans 8:26 God’s Holy Word says, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.”

And His purpose through us is “Healing Grace”! Are you “God’s House”? But Jesus said to some, “My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”

The body of Jesus was bruised, broken, beaten, and bled – and the Spirit of God comes to anoint us with that oil of gladness for healing grace for all those around us. We’re not freed by His blood to live in self-determination, self-will, or self-initiative, but redeemed to spread the oil of gladness and healing to a sick society! God’s intent through the death of Christ on the Cross, through His Resurrection, and through the coming of the Holy Spirit, was to take us, transform us, and shape us in the perfect Image of Christ as ‘Healers” through the power of His Holy Spirit!

THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO ANOINT US AND UNVEIL FOR US THE VERY WISDOM OF GOD IN THE MIDST OF A CLUELESS WORLD!

In I John 2:20 we read, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” We know ‘all things’? I’m afraid I haven’t arrived there yet, but I am on a journey, and day by day the Father unveils for me His good, acceptable, and perfect will.

Sometimes we don’t know because we never ask! I was a football player in high school and college – and I’m telling you, if a player didn’t know but he asked the coach, he got the good answer!

In John 14:25-26 we read, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

Have you felt in your seeking, in your walk toward Christ, a sensitiveness concerning your witness to others, and then all of a sudden there is a prompting of the Holy Spirit, and you know what to say and what to do in touching others with God’s grace and mercy? Your walk as a witness in a clueless world is not through self-effort but Spirit-anointing!

You do understand – a “witness” to the lost that is fruitful is a witness empowered by the Holy Spirit like a rushing mighty wind! It is Holy Presence, Holy Power, and Holy Purpose! The wisdom of God leads one to a life of witnessing grace and mercy.

THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO ANOINT US AND EMPOIWER US AND TO LEAD US IN BIBLICAL EVANGELISM AND GRACED WITNESSING!

In Acts 1:8 we read: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We read in Acts 2:32, “This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses.” And biblical witnesses of His saving grace are not well-trained actors but truly “rivers of living water” that flow through them to the thirsty, the dry, the spiritually lifeless, the alienated and separated from God, who need a “saving witness”!

True disciples are not those who live unto themselves but understand “living sacrifice,” “living witness,” “living representative” of the Resurrected Christ! Hear me! I know that many, many churches never train their followers to be witnesses, to evangelize, to share their redemptive faith with others. If so, seek help! If so, reach out! If so, pray through! Whatever it takes for you, be the witness of reconciliation power!

Will you be ‘broken bread’ for the unsaved? Will you be the poured-out wine of redemptive grace and mercy to others? What did Jesus say in Matthew 10:27? “What I tell you in darkness, that speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach that upon the housetops.”

In I Corinthians 1:17 Paul tells us, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” That’s to announce the good news. That’s to proclaim redemptive Truth. That’s the commission as His ambassador to represent Him in hostile nations. That’s to reach out to the one lost in total rebellion to God, hostile to Christ, resisting the church – that’s the ones disillusioned by religious activity, the ones unmoved by one’s devotion to Christ and His Word, yes, even totally untouched by the Gospel because they’ve never heard it!

Do you understand those “outside the camp”? I want to remind you that the way to Calvary’s Cross was by way of Gethsemane, by way of hostile city streets, by way of denouncers, by way of individuals whose aim was to resist Christ Jesus, not rest in Him – but some did!

But you as a “believer”? You, we, all disciples – “We are laborers together with God!” We’ve put our hands to His plow, and we won’t look back, stand aside, or refuse to do His bidding! We are His servants, we are His people, we are His family, and we are His earthly representatives, yes, extensions of His Life, expressions of His love, and the very proof of His power! We are His!

We’ll not deny our ministry, we’ll not refuse His command, we’ll not evade our field of work, we’ll not be AWOL from the field of battle, we’ll not divorce our Lord’s will for our lives as living witnesses!

If I said to you that it is not easy being a witness in and of yourself – and I don’t believe that’s our Lord’s plan anyway, but it’s Christ in us who is the hope of glory – not us! But we make ourselves available to Him as empty vessels and we ask Him to fill us up with all we need to be that faithful witness! And it’s true as Seneca said: “Gold is tried in fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.” The furnace of adversity is an unbelieving world into which our Lord leads us to be His witness!

THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO SO FILL REPENTANT BELIEVERS WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT THEY BECOME INTERPRETIVE EXAMPLES TO ALL UNBELIEVERS THEY COME IN CONTACT WITH!

Paul lays it out so clearly for us in Ephesians 5:15-21 when he wrote, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; BUT BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

Interpretive examples are not believers acting impulsively but believers who are inspired, infused, and in-flamed by the Holy Spirit to touch unbelievers they are sovereignly led to witness to about “Amazing Grace”. It is not one being ‘heroic’ to witness to unbelievers but one being ‘obedient’ to Him because of our Lord’s compassion being expressed through us!

The supreme privilege of discipleship is that God has chosen to express through redeemed believers His great love for the unredeemed! “God so loved the world” that in and through His Son and the Savior’s disciples the Holy Spirit would bear witness of one being delivered from the guilt of sin, delivered from meaninglessness, delivered from darkness and overflowing with Light, bringing them to that holy place of glorying only in the Cross of Christ!

What did Paul write in Romans 8:16-17? “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Do you understand it? Do you receive it? “The Spirit bears witness…”! If we determine to ‘witness’ apart from the Spirit our witness bounces off deaf ears, but if the Spirit witnesses through us, unbelievers have their ears and eyes opened to the Eternal Truth. We are not to be highly educated witnesses in the flesh or witnesses through our common sense or just natural abilities of well-trained flesh, but truly Spirit of God anointing with the Spirit Himself bearing witness through our spirit to unbelievers! “New creations,” anointed by the Spirit, become announcers of God’s great love, and share with alienated people how to be reconciled to God through Christ’s shed blood, and the witness of the Holy Spirit convicting them of sin, righteousness and judgment to come.

In I Corinthians 9:22 Paul said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” He then said, “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.”

This is why in John 20:21 Jesus said: “As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you.” Here’s how Oswald Chambers interpreted this verse in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.222], “When looking back on the lives of men and women of God the tendency is to say – ‘What wonderfully astute wisdom they had! How perfectly they understood all God wanted!’ The astute mind behind is the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the Divine guidance of God through childlike people who were foolish enough to trust God’s wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God.” Amen?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OF A WORLD CULTURE CAPTURED BY SATAN

In Acts 26:12-19, Paul the Apostle shared his testimony with King Agrippa after his accusers had told him that Paul was not fit to live any longer, basically because he had turned from Judaism to salvation in and through Christ Jesus. He said:

“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. ‘I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, AND FROM THE POWER OF SATAN TO GOD, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision..”

I know you didn’t miss it! The world, fleshly men, unbelievers, who have chosen independence from God are under full control of Satan and the powers of darkness, and if you didn’t know who these powers are, you need to know their Satan’s army called ‘demons’!

Evangelism – Because Of A World Culture Captured By Satan! And that’s a meaningless, unimportant statement to you, just one of those ‘religious lies’ you refute and deny? Remember, the day is coming when you will stand before Holy God, before the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to give an account of your denial of His saving grace and an account of your disbelief in Satan’s power, yes, to deceive even you!

You don’t believe that the world around you, the world you are a part of, is a battle-field of devilish, demonic activity? In John 10:10 our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, said: “The thief comes only TO STEAL, TO KILL, AND TO DESTROY!” The thief is Satan and his demon powers!

In Mark 5:1-16 there is one of the most sobering sections of Scripture you’ll ever read! The translation I’m using is Peterson’s “The Message.” He wrote: “They arrived on the other side of the sea in the country of the Gerasenes. As Jesus got out of the boat, a madman from the cemetery came up to Him. He lived there among the tombs and graves. No one could restrain him – he couldn’t be chained, couldn’t be tied down. He had been tied up many times with chains and ropes, but he broke the chains, snapped the ropes. No one was strong enough to tame him. Night and day he roamed through the graves and the hills, screaming out and slashing himself with sharp stones. When he saw Jesus a long way off, he ran and bowed in worship before Him – then bellowed in protest, ‘What business do you have, Jesus, Son of the High God, messing with me? I swear to God, don’t give me a hard time!’ (Jesus had just commanded the tormenting evil spirit, ‘Out! Get out of the man!’) Jesus asked him, “Tell Me your name.” He replied, ‘My name is Mob. I’m a rioting mob.” Then he desperately begged Jesus not to banish them from the country. A large herd of pigs was browsing and rooting on a nearby hill. The demons begged him, “Send us to the pigs so we can live in them.” Jesus gave the order. But it was even worse for the pigs than for the man. Crazed, they stampeded over a cliff into the sea and drowned. Those tending the pigs, scared to death, bolted and told their story in the town and country. Everyone wanted to see what had happened. They came up to Jesus and saw the madman sitting there wearing decent clothes and making sense, no longer a walking madhouse of a man.” Madness through Satan! Mercy through Jesus!

Do you remember Jesus saying to Simon Peter in Luke 22:31, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat?” And there’s been a whole lot of “sifting” going on! The thief (Satan) comes to kill, steal, and destroy! It happened to Jesus Himself. In Luke 4:1-2 the Word says, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL.” And you think you don’t have to be concerned about devilish influences coming against you?

Paul told the church at Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:3), “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” If there is no devotion to Christ in YOUR earthly walk, be assured you’re under the control of Satan himself! Have you ever witnessed one led astray by the powers of darkness? Then in verse 4 Paul laid it out how some, through the craftiness of the devil’s deception, embrace “another Jesus…a different spirit… or a different gospel.”

John described this battle-front like this, (Revelation 12:15-17), “And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman (Bride of Christ!), so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood (a flood of words, speculations, doubts, lies). And the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

That flood out of the devil’s mouth is the perverting of the holy truths of God’s Word. It’s a flood of denials about the need of blood redemption: “You’re not ‘lost’; you’re not ‘separated from God’ in your sin; you’re not depraved in your nature; you don’t need the Lamb of God – you’re a winner, you’re smart, you’re an elite rendition of perfect manhood; you don’t have to look to Jesus – look inward to yourself!”

This is why Paul wrote the Corinthian church (2Corinthians 4:3-4), “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world (the devil) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” In fact, the beloved John wrote (I John 5:19), that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” THAT’S THE DEVIL HIMSELF, THE DECEIVER, THE DESTROYER – YOUR ENEMY! And he rules over “the domain of darkness.”

It was Cotton Mather in “A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World” who wrote: “That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. For any to deny the being of a Devil must be from an ignorance or profaneness worse than diabolical.”

I often feel or sense in my spirit that far too many Christians ignore the spiritual warfare of faith. I believe it’s why Paul warned the church at Ephesus, (Ephesians 4:27), “and do not give the devil an opportunity, or area of occupation, or ‘toe-hold.’” And in the context of that verse, before and after, Paul talked about lying, anger, stealing, rotten words out of the mouth, unforgiveness, slander, grieving the Holy Spirit! And we don’t see how “the Thief” operates?

Hear me! Hear me with all your heart, soul, and mind! There is “Victory In Jesus”, victory over your arch-enemy, the devil and his demons! You ‘in Christ’ are more than conqueror through Christ! In Hebrews 2:14-15 we read, “Since then the children share in flesh and blood [covenant], He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Did it say that Jesus rendered powerless the one who had the power of death? Did it say that Jesus delivered men and women of faith from spiritual slavery to Satan? In Christ Jesus you have Victory over the Devil!

There is that ‘invisible war’ going on right now! The ‘hellish’ forces wage war against the Lamb of God and His faithful ones. But the Lamb of God, the blood of the Lamb of God, overcomes His enemies because “He is Lord of lords and King of kings.” The eternal battle is finished – Christ is Victor over the Devil!

In Revelation 12:9-11 we read, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Yes, you may be concerned about your own welfare concerning your warfare with the Devil, but understand he is a defeated foe – there is NOTHING Almighty about the Devil! He may possess an infectious, sick spirit, but our Healer, the Lord Jesus, possesses the divine prescription, His own precious blood! God has given us the victory over the Devil through the person of Christ Jesus – He is more than conqueror!

Oh, the Devil will accuse you, but the accusations about you from the Devil were washed clean by the blood the Lamb. Satanic accusation is unceasing but we walk in a new and living way, boldly entering the presence of the Almighty, brought near by Jesus’ shed blood. Our foundation of faith has provided a divine fountain of fire-power over devilish activity and a saving shield of security over any devilish accusation. Again, what is our victory over the Devil? “The blood of the Lamb and by word of their testimony, and they don’t love their lives even to the death!”

It was C.S. Lewis who once said: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because of it I see everything else.” And certainly the Devil comes to us in distressing disguises but the Spirit of Christ exposes him instantly for us to view his defeated status!

Satan will cast doubt on the Word of God but God’s Word is eternal! Satan is, yes, even a stickler for legalism apart from grace, mercy, and love! Satan promotes your hopelessness but Romans 5:5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Satan denies your ‘election’, accusing you of falling short, defining you as chief of sinners, yes, even when you’ve been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb! Satan confesses “lies” not eternal truths, Satan twists the Truth and misuses Holy Scripture; Satan fights for what he “thinks” is his, he induces embittered souls to embrace sadness before they find joy, he’s the master of anxiety, worry, fear, and discouragement; Satan majors on shifts of spiritual eye-contact from Christ Jesus to one’s self; Satan promotes meriting – and you don’t measure up; Satan majors on thorns, briars, unplowed, unseeded fields; Satan is so filled with such displeasure when one begins to speak about the love of God, BUT…

Romans 5:8 declares for you and me, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I John3:8b says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

In Luke 10:17-20 we read, Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Hear me! It’s not big words of big talkers that ought to impress you, but big deeds of denying Satan’s influence in your life and daily being one who lifts high the precious Name of Jesus, the name above all names!

In I Corinthians 1:4-9 we find such important words of encouragement for every true believer! It says: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, EVEN AS THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST WAS CONFIRMED IN YOU, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

It is unceasing from an unbelieving world, from intellectual arrogance, and, yes, from Satanic attacks, that men and demons devise all sorts of treacherous lies to assault your faith, even calling believers, true believers, who’ve bound the Gospel of Christ to their minds and hearts, men who are filled with vanity and pride to their own detriment! Not so! But in Christ, day by day, even though attacked, assaulted, and abused by Satan and the powers of darkness, you can honor the Lord and Savior by fresh power and anointing in and through the abiding presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

When the writer wrote, “God plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm,” I’ve often wondered if he was writing about having his own footsteps planted in that stormy sea of Satanic opposition, assured of victory through the finished work of Christ at the Cross, and so blessed that God is able to see him through Satanic storms!

Demonic assaults can alter one’s outer countenance because it is a life or death war that one is waging. Someone wrote, I do not know who, the following words: “If on my face for His dear name, Shame and reproach shall be, I’ll hail reproach and welcome shame, For He’ll remember me.”

In Christ, you are a child of the King! In Christ, you are a son or daughter of the Holy Family of God Himself! In Christ, willingly you’ve become His servant to serve, His soldier to fight, his soloist to sing the high praises of God!

And if the Devil himself were to decide to oppose you personally, be assured in Christ you are the Winner of any battle you have to wage against Satan and his un-royal family of hellish deviates!

If you’ve been sorely wounded because you crossed into enemy territory and suffered serious consequences, Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [or sorrows].” And many a man has been broken because of sin, rebellion, and giving himself over to that Satanic attack – and it is not the Devil that heals your wounds, but Jesus only who is truly the Great Physician of the hurts, wounds, sickness of a sin-filled life! Jesus is your Healer, your Deliverer, your Savior, and the Lord who loves you!

On down in Psalm 147 we read verses 10-11, “He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE DRY BONES ARE LIFELESS

In Ezekial 37:1-10 there is such an anointed, enlightened, uplifting word from the Living God! It says: The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: ‘Surely I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.”

The Spirit of the Lord asked Ezekial, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekial wasn’t sure! But God told Ezekial, as He does each one of us reading this book, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves…!”

Spiritual death is real! Alienation from God is real! Not life but ‘living death’ is real in every unbeliever! Human nature lives constantly under the cloud of death and separation from God! In fact, in Romans 7:13-24, Paul shares his life story before Christ raised him from spiritual death! He said:

“Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. FOR I KNOW THAT IN ME (IN MY FLESH – one’s old sin nature!) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” And he said in verse 25, “I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” AMEN?

The ‘grave’ of my dead spirit-life has been revealed! But God tells us, “I will open your graves…!” And all around you are “the walking dead,” dead to God, dead to the Savior, dead to the Holy Spirit, dead to eternal purpose, dead to honoring God through a surrendered life, dead to the high praises of God, dead to rejoicing in Him but so alive in serving the ‘flesh’ and the old sin nature, so pleased to live independently of Him but living so selfishly and, yes, fully for the dark sides of life!

In 2 Kings 7:3-9 is the story of four leprous men which I personally think represents fallen humanity, those alienated and separated from God, those diseased in spiritual death, hungry with no certainty of physical life in their tomorrow! They decided to go into the Syrian camp with the attitude, if they let us live, we live, but if they kill us, we die. But the Syrians were not there and they found food aplenty, silver and gold, treasures they couldn’t ever imagine having in their possession. Then something, yes, eternal began to work in them: “We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we remain silent.” They left their self-centered lifestyles for a selfless expression of concern for others other than themselves! That’s “the walking examples” of Christ-like compassion!

The 2 Kings passage so illumines for us our understanding of leprous men in the spiritual realms of life who ‘come to life’ concerned about others. These were ‘weak’ men who came to a life of concern and compassion for others because they were confronted with the truth: “This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.” It could have been lives perpetuating the spirit of self-preservation, but for them they wanted to help others. It could have been lives overcome by the me, my, mine philosophy, but they realized the death in selfishness.

It would have been so easy for the four leprous men to continue their “leprous ways,” of total unconcern for others – “we’ve got enough trouble on our own without caring for others!”

And how many do you know who live under a dark cloud of ‘self-worship,’ ‘self-fulfillment,’ ‘self-pleasure,’ that thinking and caring about others is the furthest thing from their minds? We may have been redeemed from among men and called out to follow Christ alone, but our Lord certainly never meant that His people were to remain aloof from that world of sinners or as the elect family of God in Christ to be so led out of the dark world they couldn’t take the Light or so concerned about the contamination of evil people and evil surrounding them that compassion, ministry, and witnessing, was excusable! No, a thousand times, “NO!”

God’s people in and through Christ are called to be ‘salt in the earth’ and lights on the hills of the city! In Luke 7:19-23 we read: And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

What have you seen and heard? What is the message you’ve responded to? What is “the right” that YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD BE A PART OF? Is there such a ministry of “opening the graves” in that walking dead man’s life? Can we truly see “dead men’s bones” coming to Life in Christ? Or do modern-day ‘believers’ compromise biblical truth and ignore “raising the dead”?

Compromising for ‘believers’ is partial obedience that avoids responsibility for a caring ministry like Jesus! Compromising is decaying obedience that brings on even moral deterioration and ministry denial! To compromise is to invite on one’s ‘life of faith’ an absence of blessing, anointing, dreams and visions, and the very voice of Him who says, “Follow Me.” Compromising is ‘death to life,’ steps to rebellion and disobedience, doubts that what Jesus did back then He doesn’t do anymore and “especially through us or me,” and even sure of the cross of Jesus but unsure of me taking up my cross, denying myself, and doing what Jesus did!

Do you remember Jesus’ prayer to His Father in John 17? A portion of it in verses 15-19 tells us: “I do not pray that You, Father-God, should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify [or set apart] them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”

The very prayer of Jesus for believing witnesses is to be “in the world” as a witness but not of it. His prayer for believers is “a setting apart” of every believer’s life as His ambassador, His witness, yes, His earthly soul-winner! We have a call on our lives as believers to touch our world with His grace, His mercy, and His love, preaching Christ as a lost man’s only hope!

We’re not religious people – we’re disciples of Christ Jesus! The false religion of even much of what is called “Christianity” is what Spurgeon said: “..religion.. based upon self-will, pride of intellect, and worldly conformity. The world’s religion is as evil as the world’s irreligion.”

But the Christian faith birthed by Christ, by the Holy Word, and by the Holy Spirit, is a spiritual wedding of the Bridegroom, Jesus, and His Bride, the born-again, new creations, sons and daughters, of the Most High God, re-born, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, enveloped in the fullness of Resurrection life, resurrection power, and resurrection hope! To be wedded to Christ is to be married to the very conqueror of death, to be united in the fullness of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! To be wedded to Christ is, having been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, to be filled to overflowing in the very cloud of heavenly glory!

When the four lepers looked to themselves they saw the “marred,” the unkept, the hungry, the thirsty, the deprived and the depraved, unfit, unworthy, unwilling to be ‘religious,’ but in God’s faithful provision they found hope, they found purpose, they found an ample supply – and they reached out to their city!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” Have you looked around you intently to see if those you see can live in Christ? Have you examined your apartment complex, your own up-scale neighborhood, your university campus, your city leaders, your famous athletes, your medical community, your ‘street-walkers,’ your pimps, your drug addicts, your alcoholics?

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” Have you witnessed to the ‘compromising’ preacher or worship leader? Have you challenged the careless seminary professor? Have you reached out to touch with a word of grace the state national leader who has so miserably missed Christ in his walk to prominence?

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” Do you grasp it? Upon you reaching out to someone, death and hell itself hangs in the balance! Have YOU understood? The eternal future and destiny of your closest friend hangs in the balance between heaven or hell!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” It’s absolutely distressing to me to contemplate believers who never reach out to unbelievers, or never prays for their salvation, or never gives a dime to world missions, the local church, or the prison-jail ministry!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” We’re not, in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, weird beings and strangers to eternal truths: “Born-again life,” resurrection from the dead, joint-heirs with Christ, ambassadors, witnesses and missionaries and soul-winners – that’s not some off-the-wall idle tale of a twisted mind, but words from God Himself!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” I believe a very significant question is in order! Are you personally free from responsibility concerning the souls of men, women, boys, and girls that surround you? In Acts 8:4-5 we read, “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” “I’ve been born-again – and others around me need to be born-again! I’ve been washed in the blood, freed from the penalty of my sin, indwelt by the resurrected Christ,” but those around you don’t need the message of redemption?

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” The ship of their very life, their marriage, their family, their business, their health – it’s all failing! And for them there is no hope? YOU KNOW BETTER! I’m telling you, their very spirits can be renewed and their suffering souls made glad in the Lord!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” Luke 8:43-44 is such a powerful word for those whose lives hang between Life or death! It says: “Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of Jesus’ garment. And immediately her flood of blood stopped.” Imagine this situation! She’s been dying for twelve years! But she’s healed!

What about the hopeless one today – not sick of a sickness but sick of an incurable disease called sin that ravages the human life! “Might as well check out – no spiritual hope for me!” But they hear of Jesus! They hear of sins forgiven because of His shed blood! They hear of release from behind spiritual prison bars – chains of enslavement can and will be broken because of His sacrifice at the Cross! Glory!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” A despairing soul finds hope, a discouraged wife finds help, an addict finds the spiritual power of liberation from addiction, the leprous finds the Great Physician, the enslaved, unregenerate, poisoned adulterer or homosexual or prolific liar or drunkard believes it’s the nature of a soul-disease that has no cure but then hears of God’s mercy through Jesus Christ and is liberated! If you haven’t heard it, you’ll hear it now!! God’s Holy Word holds no hope for hopelessness if one turns and has no desire to burn!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” The sullen, silent, self-condemned suffers in wave after wave of the stormy sea of guilt fighting valiantly to keep his head above water, struggling, resisting as best he knows how, not knowing God is saying, “Let go! Let Me have My way in your life!” He’s been living under the dark cloud of a destructive delusion that there is no hope for him. But in Matthew 12:31 we read, Jesus speaking, “Therefore I say to you, EVERY SIN AND BLASPHEMY WILL BE FORGIVEN MEN, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.”

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” In Revelation 2:12-13 we read: “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” Do you believe you are exempt from living “where Satan dwells”? He’s still around seeking whom he may devour! But “bones live” because we hold fast to the Name above every name; we have not, will not, deny the Savior’s gift of faith, and we will not hide when faithful martyrs are killed!

“CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” Isaiah 33:14-16 is a sacred word of such hopefulness! Yes, these bones will live! It says: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites; Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil. He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks [starting with the Rock of Ages!]; bread will be given him [the Bread of Life?], his water will be sure [the Living Water?].”

Let me close this chapter with a few words from Spurgeon: “A life in which we have shunned the cross of Christ will lead to a state in which we shall miss the crown of glory.” I pray that’s not YOU! I pray you’re one who knows dead bones can live the divine life in Christ fully, victoriously, sweetly, and in a way that gives honor to Him alone!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE OUR GOD IS MILITANT!

Do you believe God is militant? Is He a true warrior in the battle for the souls of men? Is Holy God truly aware that men are captives of the powers of darkness and He wants them free, willing to pay the Ultimate Price for their freedom – the Blood of Christ shed at the Cross?

You know it’s true, but maybe at this time or stage of your life you’d rather be a ‘captive’ than “fight the good fight of faith”, and certainly not be a soldier in God’s army to seek to set fleshly captives free from devilish and demonic control!

In I Corinthians 9:7 Paul asked, “Who ever goes to war at his own expense?” And it’s certain in the spiritual war of the ages it cost the Lord Jesus, not us initially, but because He is militant Himself, and He comes to live in YOU, we become “soldiers of the cross”!

Isaac Watts composed the hymn, “Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?” It says: “Am I a soldier of the cross – A follower of the Lamb – And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His Name? Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease; While others fought to win the prize, And sailed through bloody seas?…

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend to grace, To help me on to God? Since I must fight if I would reign, Increase my courage, Lord; I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Your word….

Your saints, in all this glorious war, Shall conquer though they die; They view the triumph from afar, And seize it with their eye. When that illustrious day shall rise, And all Your armies shine, In robes of victory through the skies, The glory shall be Thine.”

I know that fallen humanity does not accept the ‘eternal warfare’ for their souls, but from the very moment of the first breath until they’re about to take their last breath, the war for their souls goes on! And, sadly, they’ve not learned that “The Lord God omnipotent reigns!”

In the midst of His omnipotent reigning, a “WAR” is going on! In I Peter 5:8 Peter wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because YOUR adversary THE DEVIL walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Then in verse 9 Peter tells us, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

But you are totally unaware that God Himself is militant and has been at war with Satan since he rebelled in Heaven before the world was ever created? You are blind to what goes on before your eyes and you have no discernment about spiritual warfare? Yet there are others around you so alert in their minds, so brave in their spiritual constitutions, that you sense in them “boiling blood” concerning the on-going warfare with the powers of darkness!

Do you understand the valiant in spiritual warfare? Do you sense God giving “medals of spiritual honor” because there are those who display constant deeds of true heroism? We’re not to be disciples of Christ with a chameleon heart and mind easily swayed, changing colors for our moments of self-indulgence!

It was Spurgeon who wrote: [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol.13, p.207], “Unless we deny ourselves, and lay violent hands upon the impulses of our nature, we shall never come to the place where the crowns are distributed to the conquerors.”

To arise with “new life” in Christ is to declare that one is the true “soldier of the Cross,” willing to fight the spiritual powers of darkness until you’re translated into heaven itself! But at the same time there does occur the reality of POW’s, at least for a period of time, and I wonder how many you know who are willing to be chained because of their allegiance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I have no hesitation in saying to you that one of the strangest things of a believer’s fleshly sins is a dislike of witnessing or evangelism. At the same time, I’m sure, that the beginning of true spiritual life is not only trusting what Christ has done for us but standing upon what Christ desires to do through us: “Touch our world with saving grace!”

Colossians 2:15 is so very clear: “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it [the Cross!].” That means: “It is finished!” Or, Satan and his demons are to have no power, influence, or disturbance of any true believer’s life! It’s why we hear the inspirational word: “O death! Where is your sting; O grave! Where is your victory?”

I love what David wrote in Psalm 18:28-30, “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” When David speaks about a ‘troop’, he’s referring to well-trained, experienced personnel, who know how to war, yes, against men of faith who are surrendered to the Lordship of Christ! In Christ, you’re marked! In Christ, you’re well-known! And as a result you’ve become the devil’s enemy!

Do you remember the Word telling us, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson”? And just as surely it’s true, “Satan is after you, disciple; the demons are on the move against you, disciple!” Have you ever doubted that Paul was at times sorely troubled because he was a target, and at times, greatly distressed, greatly oppressed?

In Romans 15:30-32 Paul sent a request to the church in Rome: “Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you.”

If you’re unaware of stress in a true disciple’s walk, I’d question whose ‘gospel’ you signed on for! If ‘trouble’ is a strange word to your walk of faith, I’d examine what I’d been told by that false witness! If heartache because of rejection of your testimony comes your way, be assured – you are on the right path!

If you have a heavy, heavy heart because your witness is resented by a religious establishment around you, if anger is expressed toward you because you exalt saving grace through Christ alone, if you’re taunted by the “spiritually elite” in your community, yes, even denominational hierarchies, take your “rest” and lean on Jesus!

Give consideration to Paul and his passion for the salvation of Israel’s Jewish community who pushed hard for our Lord’s crucifixion! In Romans 10:1-3 read him carefully!

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”

Israel’s “zeal” crucified the Lord of glory! Israel’s “zeal” was blind allegiance to untruths rather than allegiance to “THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE,” even our Lord and Savior! But Paul’s prayer was intense! He prayed with all his heart for people who were zealous in their thinking but void in their hearts of true grace and mercy. Though they were zealous for God, He knew they’d taken a wrong turn and missed “The Promised Messiah”!

“Established their own righteousness?” “Ignorant of God’s righteousness”? Spurgeon said: “Self-righteousness is bound up in the heart of man as folly or foolishness in the heart of a child.” He later said: “The death of Christ upon the tree was an extravagance – a needless extravagance, if men can be saved without it..”

I pray you’re not one who is out to prove himself to man and God – your militant spirit, without Christ, will get you a ticket not to heaven but Hell itself! I don’t hear too many popular songs being sung about “My Way To Heaven – Me, My, and Mine” – but if you do, those ‘singers’ bust Hell wide open!

God is certainly militant concerning redemption in Christ, but the Devil and his followers are militant in their ‘dominions of death,’ determined to sidetrack anyone hungering after God through Christ! In the same way, worldly people ruled by their old sin natures, are front-line soldiers in the armies of our Lord’s enemies. And many of them surely resent Christ Jesus, targeting Him and His followers, because they’re angry, resentful, deceived, even determined to do as much harm against Christ and His church as they can. But guess WHO comes out the “Winner”! The very Prince of Life, the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords, yes, the Eternal Ruler of the ages – His name is Jesus!

In Revelation 12:7-12 we read, “And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of the brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Notice out of this Revelation passage you just read God’s militancy! Now salvation and strength have come, the Kingdom of God IS established, the power of His Christ has come, the accuser of the brethren has been cast down, and “WE” overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by our “new born” testimony, not even loving our lives unto death if called for by Holy God!

“In Christ” the repentant, true, re-born, Spirit-anointed, son or daughter of God has prevailed against the very power of Hell himself, the Devil! Do you remember or have you forgotten that the devil couldn’t come against Job without asking permission of God Himself?

James 4:7-10 tells us, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

“Big sinners”, encountering and turning to and relying upon “Big God”, find grace and mercy and love stronger than Satan’s accusations and words about you as a hopeless case! What did Isaiah the prophet of God tell us in Isaiah 61:1-3? “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness [or depression]; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

That’s “trees of His righteousness,” not ‘self-righteousness,’ but that which is imparted, implanted, imputed, because of the shed blood of the Lamb of God! That’s God’s war weapon – the blood of Jesus!

The prophet told us in Isaiah 1:18 the words of the Lord Himself, “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Fanny Crosby wrote these famous words, [words copyrighted by Fannie T. Doane ], “Jesus, keep me near the cross, There a precious fountain, Free to all, a healing stream, Flows from Calvary’s mountain..

Near the cross, a trembling soul, Love and Mercy found me; There the Bright and Morning Star Shed His beams around me..

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, Bring its scenes before me; Help me walk from day to day, With its shadows o’er me. Near the cross I’ll watch and wait, Hoping, trusting ever, Till I reach the golden strand, Just beyond the river..

In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever, Till my raptured soul shall find Rest beyond the river.”

The militancy that some folks walk in is that style of ‘faith’ that they hold to that isn’t worth preaching about, dying for, and certainly not worth paying for in total allegiance and surrender!

But God’s militancy? The very death, burial, and resurrection of Christ! It was Raymond MacKendree in “Queens’ Gardens” who wrote: “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our hope today. It is our assurance that we have a living Savior to help us live as we should now, and that when, in the end, we set forth on that last journey, we shall not travel an uncharted course, but rather we shall go on a planned voyage – life to death to eternal living.” Amen?

This is why we in faith and trust lay hold of that eternal hope set before us which is our true anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast!

I’m sure if you are a student of the Word that you are dramatically and powerfully moved by John 17:20-26! Jesus said:

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

God the Father evangelizes because He is militant! Jesus the Son evangelizes because He is militant! The Holy Spirit evangelizes because He is militant! And His people are to evangelize because, yes, they are militant! “Fight the good fight of faith!” “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”

War may be considered by some to be “the devil’s madness,” but in the journey of life in Christ in the midst of alien people to God and hordes of demons behind them spiritual warfare is essential – it’s not an option! And it is sure the Devil and his demons are ‘foreign’ to God and His people. Be as militant as God!

I close this chapter with brilliant words from Charles Spurgeon, [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 17, pps.87-88], “How came all this which we now see and hear? Why this creation? This fall of Adam? THIS REDEMPTION? This church? This heaven? How came it all about? It needed not to have been, but the Father’s love made him resolve to show forth the glory of his Son. The mysterious volume which has been gradually unfolded before us has only this one design – the Father would make known His love to the Son, and make the Son’s glories to appear before the eyes of those whom the Father gave Him. This Fall and this Redemption, and the story as a whole, so far as the divine purpose is concerned, are the fruit of the Father’s love to the Son, and His delight in glorifying the Son. Those myriads, those white-robed myriads, harping to music infinitely deep, what do they all mean? They are the Father’s delight to the Son. That He might be glorified for ever, He permitted that He should bear a human body, and should suffer, bleed and die, so that there might come out of Him, as a harvest comes from a dying and buried corn of wheat, all the countless hosts of elect souls ordained for ever to a felicity exceeding bounds. These are the bride of the Lamb, the body of Christ, the fullness of Him that fills all in all. Their destiny is so high that no language can fully describe it. God only knows the love of God; and all that it has prepared for those who are the objects of it.”

Do you begin to sense fully why God is so militant? And this is why in I Corinthians 9:22 Paul said, “I am made all things to all men, that thereby I might by all means save some.” And we can be assured, “Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and diffuses through us the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” AMEN?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE EYES ARE BLIND, EARS DEAF, MINDS COLD!

What is it that so exalts flesh against the Spirit, the temporal against the Eternal, and “every high thing” that lifts fallen humanity against the Living God? There are those things in a man’s sin nature separated from God that so easily erupts in him in opposition to Holy God. He is easily identified as “fallen away” FROM God by an undisciplined human nature. There are deep, deep ditches in the human experience of his natural life that keep him from climbing up and out of his antagonistic entrenchments against the very name of God.

Romans 5:12 defines fallen man’s dilemma. It says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..” And at the heart of a man’s sin is the determination that he is his own god with “me, my, and mine” as his true boss, doing as he pleases, but of course alienated and separated from Holy God. Idol worship may be a good definition but the idols fallen man worships are self-centered independence, willful rebellion, and an unholy obstinacy.

In Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” And He then defined “the rich man” who said in verse 18, “So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and goods.” But in Verse 20 God spoke: “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” Then our Lord said, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Fallen humanity is “married” to its flesh [or old sin nature!] with all of its affections and lusts – and married to that old sin nature, too many men are not willing to die to, forfeit, or separate from their independence from God because they love self-rule!

Self-rule births self-righteousness, so why do fallen men hold onto that which is not of God? Because in Jesus only “God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” And men in sin more often than not have no desire to be free from their sin to become earthly representatives of Holy God! It’s true! Men in the flesh have eyes that are blind, ears that cannot hear, and minds that are cold to biblical Truth!

I want you to look carefully with me concerning EYES THAT ARE SPIRITUALLY BLIND! I’m sure that when you read God’s Word and He mentions ‘blind Israel’ that that spiritual state of mind and heart related not only to physical Israel but to every man, woman, boy, or girl who “will not see” spiritually because they were ‘spiritually’ BORN BLIND! Romans 11:8 says: Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see..”

In I John 2:16 we read: “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, THE LUST OF THE EYES, and the boastful pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.”

In Mark 8 Jesus had given His disciples a serious charge in verse 15 when He said: “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began to try to reason in their childish minds to the point that Jesus said in verse 18, “Having eyes, do you not see?”

I’m sure that you are aware that most men around you have perfect natural eyesight in the 20 – 20 range, but spiritually are totally blind! What is perfect natural eyesight if spiritually you are blind because of spiritual feebleness and tragic unbelief in Holy God and His eternal Word?

In Luke 14:11-14 there is a serious contrast between friends of the world and a friend of God. It says: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the BLIND. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

This is what Paul was talking about in Ephesians 1:18 as he instructed true believers in praying for spiritual wisdom: “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened..”

And what about John’s writings in I John 1:1-4! “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life – the life was manifested, AND WE HAVE SEEN, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us – THAT WHICH WE HAVE SEEN and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

I can say to you without hesitation that I have personally witnessed a man and a woman in India who were both physically blind yet they possessed perfect spiritual vision! Spiritual eyesight is true Christ-consciousness! Perfect physical eyesight, 20-20 physical vision? Yet one is “blind” about Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Christ, the Savior of the world?

In Luke 2:25-35 is an amazing testimony of one who “waited for the consolation of Israel..” It says: “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; FOR MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOUR SALVATION Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel.” And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Have YOUR eyes witnessed Holy God’s SALVATION? But tell me about YOUR EARS! Is evangelism critical because of fallen humanity’s spiritual deafness?

In Psalm 115:4 the psalmist is talking about the futility of idolatry as opposed to one’s trust in Holy God. He says their idols “have ears, but they do not hear,” and then in verse 8 the psalmist speaks heavenly truth about the fallen, “Those who make them [idols] are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.”

This no doubt is why the wise man of Proverbs wrote in Proverbs 23:9, “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.” That’s a tough call when one realizes that all men determined to live without God are fools! I think we’ll understand this better when we read I Peter 3:12! “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,” and they keep on doing it! Why? Because they are deaf to God’s voice!

But God is so amazing and merciful! I read an anonymous statement today that was so on target: “Every day God makes silk purses out of sows’ ears,” and I don’t know any more ‘piggish’ people than those who shut their ears to our Lord and Savior!

It was Thomas Arnold who said years ago: “The distinction between Christianity and all other systems of religion consists largely in this, that in these others, men are found seeking after God, while Christianity is God seeking after men.” Systems of world religions are men with deaf ears who cannot, have not, will not, listen to the Voice of God! But possessing some religious feelings, they will, independently from God, close their ears to Him and listen to self-ordained thoughts about “my religion”!

Religions of the world are men pampering and adapting fallen flesh to a little higher ground of self-centered morality while the disciples of Christ are “hearing” Jesus say: “You must be born again!” Religions of the world ‘inform’ their collection of ‘believers’ while Christ Jesus transforms the old man to a “new creation,” and lifts that old man out of his deathly spiritual state into the “newness of life” in Christ granting him a “new spirit” in the body of a “new man.”

There is a prophetic word from the Coming Messiah 700 years before His birth! He said in Isaiah 55:3, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. HEAR, AND YOUR SOUL SHALL LIVE; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you – the sure mercies of David.” Are you a “HEARER” of the Good News in Christ? Are you a “listener” to the Voice of the Almighty? Are you convicted because you “hear” your sin cost Jesus His sacrificial death on the Cross?

In Luke 22:53 we see or hear Jesus exposing hypocrisy because He loves us: “When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. BUT THIS IS YOUR HOUR, AND THE POWER OF DARKNESS.” Your hour? The hour of the power of darkness in you? Do you hear that convicting word?

In Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [pps. 127-128], he wrote: “If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is vice and self-seeking, something downright spiteful and wrong in human beings, instead of reconciling yourself to it, when it strikes your life, you will compromise with it and say it is of no use to battle against it. Have you made allowance for this hour and the power of darkness, or do you take a recognition of yourself that misses out on sin?”

If one does not listen to God’s Word, if one does not hear Truth about his true identity apart from God, if one refuses to hear, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” he/she will find himself/ herself trapped by closed ears to heavenly truth and heavenly help! Are your ears closed to the reality that it was YOU and YOUR SIN that nailed Jesus to the Cross! Hear this!!

Hebrews 12:5-11 says: And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Question! Are your ears trained to “hear” the voice of Sovereign God in an explanation of what He is up to in your life? If there is no inquiry by you, I would assume you could care less whether He is up to disciplining you or not!

I give you a word of warning from Hebrews 12:17! “For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he [Esau] was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”

There is a third examination for us. We’ve seen blind eyes, deaf ears, but what about COLD MINDS TO DIVINE TRUTH AND THE LOVING VOICE OF JESUS CHRIST, THE PROMISED MESSIAH, EMMANUEL?

In Isaiah 26:3 we read, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You.” I do believe that God’s Holy Word is challenging all of us about a mind open to divine truth or closed because of that sinful nature and sorry ungodly professors! Is YOUR MIND stayed on Him?

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul writes, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..”

Have you ever given any thought at all to things of the Spirit-realm related to “spiritual starvation” because you’ve never considered the vibrancy or vacating of one’s mind? Spiritual mental aspiration is one of God’s greatest gifts, but sadly many never open the gift!

That gift is not opened by some because they have no desire to bring their thought life into obedience to Christ! Your thought life often is battered by crippling thoughts that come from the powers of darkness not the Lord. Often the thought life is governed by selfish dreams not divine revelation.

What did Paul say in Philippians 3:12-16? “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

I want you to know that the mind of our Lord and Savior is a mind unafraid, undisturbed, at perfect peace – even as He went to the Cross and died in your place and mine!

Paul challenged us to “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..”! Spurgeon said of some believers, “They have been almost powerless for usefulness because they have not taken care of their brains.” Tell me, how is your “brain” as you consider your usefulness to the honor and glory of Christ Jesus? Tell me, do you bring every thought to the obedience of Christ? Is it, “I know” or “I just can’t remember”?

It hasn’t changed. God said, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

EVANGELISM – BECAUSE THE KING OF GLORY COMES SOON!

When you contemplate “man’s ultimate destiny,” it would be wise to ask every man you know, “What then did YOU do with the Man called Jesus Christ?” David Livingston was a very wise man, and before his death he stated: “I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ.”

It was Philip Schaff who said: “Without Christ life is as the twilight with the dark night ahead; with Christ it is the dawn of morning with the light and warmth of full day ahead.” The ‘dawn of morning with the light and warmth of full day ahead’ is our Lord’s precious promise that He is returning to earth the second time!

In Revelation 1:4-8 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, wrote: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He IS COMING with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and WHO IS TO COME, THE ALMIGHTY.”

If you seriously paused and reflected upon “end times” and began to consider the eternal fate of all men, one MUST settle in his own mind and heart his own readiness or not, but also evaluate whether he cares about others’ ultimate circumstance concerning their relationship to Christ and what their eternal destiny will be!

As I contemplated this chapter of the book you’re reading, I was moved by the Spirit to write these words:

“Glory to our bleeding Lord crowned with a crown of thorns, Beaten, bruised, and stricken brutally, struck with a reed of cruel misery…

Face and back torn, mercilessly shattered, spat upon filthily scattered; Glory to the Lamb so tender and comely, sacrificed faithfully by God so royally;

Raised to the brightness of Eternal Heaven, giving new life in divine leaven; Translated to the throne to represent His own, full-blown in glory, with Light and Life and Love the eternal story.”

In Romans 5:10 Paul was inspired to write this eternal truth: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” And my excitement over this word, (?), “..having been reconciled, we shall be being saved by His life!”, SHALL BE BEING SAVED through all of life here in bodily form and then in eternity continually shaped into His exact likeness and image!

In Romans 5:21 Paul wrote: “so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Peter was no dunce when it came to grasping eternal Truth and Hope. In I Peter 1:13 he wrote: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober [serious minded], and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation [or unveiling] of Jesus Christ.” Is your hope firmly set upon the unveiling of Christ through you?

In I Peter 1:3-5 he said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Did you catch that last statement in your heart as well as your head? “Through faith ‘for salvation’ ready to be revealed in the last time.” I believe our Lord is preparing us for phenomenal spiritual events to be revealed when Jesus COMES THE SECOND TIME!

Yes! In Christ the children of true faith are KEPT! Yes! In Christ the children of faith, though troubled often, prepare to meet Him! Again, in I Peter 1:6-9 Peter said, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved [distressed] by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.”

I love what Charles Spurgeon wrote: [“Spurgeon’s Sermons,” Vol. 17, p.235], “Until omnipotence can be vanquished, until immutability can be changed, until the immortal God can die, not one of His chosen people shall be destroyed.”

Our Lord, through Paul, gives us undying hope through our personal relationship to Jesus Christ! In Galatians 2:20 he wrote: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” What a revelation about why YOU should be so hopeful in Christ’s return! YOU died with Him on the Cross, but you live, and that life living in you now is the very Life of the resurrected Christ! And He says: “I’m coming back!”

I think more often than not many believers miss what the Lord was saying about partaking of the “Lord’s Supper.” In I Corinthians 11:26 we read: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” He is coming again! Do you proclaim the Lord’s death TILL HE COMES? AND HE IS COMING AGAIN!

Jesus told us in John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” What an unveiling of eternal joy!

But didn’t we read earlier that “all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of Him”? What is this mourning all about? You do understand that there is the reality of a godly sorrow for even true believers, but the “mourning”, I believe, is about one’s un-readiness for Him to come the second time! God’s Word tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but if the reality is, “His coming is not for me,” then ungodly sorrow rides in one’s saddle, and it irritates and introduces an unceasing pain as the result of one’s unbelief.

But in the ‘eternal saddle’ of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross, one is prepared, ready, anxious to meet the Lord face to face, while riding in the saddle of unbelief, one mourns the coming of Christ! The saddle of unbelief is the shell of one’s independence from God, willing to pay the eternal price of forever separation from the lover of one’s soul – and the world is filled with them!

Do you understand ‘world dominance’? In I John 2:15-17 the beloved disciple wrote: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Follow carefully I Corinthians 15:20-25! “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterward THOSE WHO ARE CHRIST’S AT HIS COMING. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.”

The Kingdom rule of God has always been, and now is even in an earthly domain, and is forever established in Heaven, plus will be easily recognizable when Jesus comes to earth the second time! This is why Jesus said, “Except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Are you aware of Kingdom-rule around you, but more importantly in you?

How does one really know that Christ is King of one’s heart now and that he/she will reign with Him forever in His eternal Kingdom as He comes back to this earth? Paul put it like this in Galatians 5:24, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” How clear is that? A crucified life in preparing for our Lord’s earthly return and preparing to reign with Him is the daily sentence of death to the flesh with its affections and lusts!

Listen to Oswald Chambers! [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p. 256], “It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God’s best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God, is to bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. ‘They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh’ – it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something.”

In Hebrews 10:12-14 we read, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified [or set apart].” And YOU are, in Christ, being set apart for His honor! YOU, in Christ, are being prepared, equipped, trained, informed that your Master, your Lord, your Savior, your King is coming soon!

Examine and evaluate your response to Revelation 3:11-14! “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. ‘And I will write on him My new name.’ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

In Matthew 24:29-31 Jesus tells us of His Second Coming: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Jesus then said in Matthew 25:13, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

I pray you’re brave enough, spiritually stout enough, determined in true heart hunger to know the Truth, and willing to seriously reflect upon Matthew 25:31-46!! Jesus again is speaking:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. [I guess you ought to consider right here: Am I a sheep or a goat?]. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”

In James 5:8 the brother of Jesus wrote: “You also be steadfast [patient]. Establish [make to stand] your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

I know that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, IS “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” That’s what Peter tells us in I Peter 2:8! But the last part of that verse says, “They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed,” and I was brought to a crossroads in understanding and questioning! “…to which they were also appointed”? Is ‘free will’ out the door? Is ‘personal choice’ down the drain? Has the ‘will’ of lost men been savaged? Has that ‘will’ been overruled and men do not choose, but God does?

I Peter 2:7 has interpreted for us Verse 8 when Peter stated a word about “such as disobedience” – All who basically reject God’s Word, all who deny His promises, ‘smash against the Word by being disobedient.’ Yes, individuals stumble against, reject, deny Christ’s word that He brought, and THEY ‘disbelieve’ and appoint themselves in the disobedient state which has a result.

It’s their rejection of Jesus that brings on an eternal result! Luke 2:34 says that Christ Himself is “set for the fall of many, a sign which shall be spoken against” in total unbelief. Unbelief brings on condemnation and one assigns HIMSELF a place in Hell with unbelievers and demons!

But if Jesus is “set for the fall of many,” He is also truly “set for the rising of many” in the fullness of His Resurrection Life, Power, and Hope! Are you steadfast? Have you set yourself to LOOK for His Coming? Will YOU be ready?

And what about those that you know God has assigned to your care? I ask you, right now, remind yourself of Isaac Watts’ words in the hymn “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?” It says:

Alas! And did my Savior bleed? And did my sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I?

Was it for crimes that I have done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! Grace unknown! And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide, And shut His glories in, When Christ, the Mighty Maker, died, For man, the creature’s sin.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay The debt of love I owe; Here, Lord, I give myself to You, – It’s all that I can do.”

Just a passing thought! How does the fullness of Christ-realization occur in one’s life of faith if they never consider Christ’s return? Do you even consider “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”? Do you build up “Christ in you the hope of glory”?

From Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.140], read it prayerfully: “The initiative of the saint is not self-realization, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him.” Tell me about your “reckless abandonment” in preparation of meeting Christ face to face in His bodily return!

CONCLUSION

This has been quite a journey over the last month or so as this book was being birthed within me. [Ask my wife, Sue!]. When the Living Lord moves on a person with a weighty responsibility, it’s not taken lightly!

Prayer is a heavy part, an attitude of listening to His Voice is Big, watching for His leading is major, hearing Him speak through others, even casually, is masterful revelation and unveiling of His leading!

And when you know that Jesus said the following in John 17:3, your heart beats a rapid beat because you know He’s appointing YOU to take this eternal Truth into a lost and dying world! “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You sent!”

Remember, as Luke closed out His Gospel, He quoted Jesus in Luke 24:48-49 saying, “And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

I’m so struck with awe as I read Acts 2:1 where the Word says, “When the Day of Pentecost had come [and it has!], they were all with one accord in one place.” To every pastor and every disciple, I tell you, one-accordance births divine opportunity in any local church. And that one-accordance is: “It’s our responsibility to touch our world with the message of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ!”

Are there still those who say: “Here am I! Send me!” Oh, I truly believe it will happen; I truly believe pastors will once again disciple believers to be “soul-winners”, sharing the love of God in a needy world.

It’s my heart-felt prayer that in these “last days” we’ll see a resurgence of equipping and training and penetration of our needy world!

Doesn’t Acts 2: 47 challenge you personally as a believer and follower of Christ? “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

“You SHALL BE witnesses unto Me…” Is your life fully surrendered as a believer to be His witness? No compromise, no doubt, no fear – just unbridled devotion to the King of kings and Lord of lords!

Dr. E.T. Cassel and his wife Flora wrote an old hymn entitled “Loyalty To Christ.” It says:

“From over hill and plain There comes the signal strain, ‘Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ; Its music rolls along, The hills take up the song, Of loyalty, loyalty, Yes, loyalty to Christ.

O hear, you brave, the sound That moves the earth around, ‘Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ; Arise to dare and do, Ring out the watchword true, Of loyalty, loyalty, Yes, loyalty to Christ.

Come, join our loyal throng, We’ll rout the giant wrong, ‘Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ; Where Satan’s banners float We’ll send the bugle note, Of loyalty, loyalty, Yes, loyalty to Christ.

The strength of youth we lay At Jesus’ feet today, ‘Tis loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ; His gospel we’ll proclaim Throughout the world’s domain, Of loyalty, loyalty, Yes, loyalty to Christ.” AMEN?

FARRELL FISHER

“Some read the Bible and gain an accumulation of information without a relational experience of Oneness with the God who wrote it.” FF

FOREWARD

After my major heart attack April 28, 2013, I knew our Lord wanted me to write – and I did. In just a brief period of recuperation, I began to write a book entitled “Resignation to Hopelessness” which really is a book about our eternal hope. But presently there is a “hopeless spirit” that is like a dark cloud heavy over our nation, the USA.

And I am firmly convinced what God did for me after my heart attack that He can do for our nation! Didn’t He say in II Chronicles 7:14 that if His people called upon Him, humbling themselves and praying, that He would forgive their sins and heal their land?

There’s a biblical command in Isaiah 60:1-3 which says to “us”: “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will rise over YOU, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

And since God is no respecter of persons or nations, will He not rise upon us if we humbly call upon Him? Oh, yes, HE WILL! One truth I’ve learned and allowed to be deeply imbedded on my heart and mind is that God is not interested in our ‘abilities’, if we have any, but God is interested in our availability to ALL HE IS!!

So…let’s not be “crushed” but truly converted, and in on what God is up to! Didn’t Jesus say, “Ask, and you will receive, seek, and you will find, knock, and it shall be opened to you?” Let’s do that together as we examine some of life’s greatest questions!

OUTLINE

QUESTIONS THAT CRUSH OR CONVERT

CHAPTER ONE: “YOUR STRENGTH OR GOD’S ABLENESS?”

CHAPTER TWO: “FALSE FREEDOM OR DIVINELY VALIDATED LIBERTY?”

CHAPTER THREE: “MAN DIES! DOES HE LIVE AGAIN?”

CHAPTER FOUR: “LIFE AS A VAPOR? WHERE’S ITS SIGNIFICANCE?”

CHAPTER FIVE: “IS THERE WISDOM IN ‘WAITING ON GOD’?”

CHAPTER SIX: “IS IT COMMONPLACE TO BE DECEIVED?”

CHAPTER SEVEN: “IS THE GOAL OF CHRISTLINESS UNATTAINABLE?”

CHAPTER EIGHT: “IS IT SELF-MADE TOWERS OR HIS DIVINE HOLY PRESENCE?”

CHAPTER NINE: “FISHING FOR MEN OR A FATALISTIC MIND-CLOSURE TO MEN?”

CHAPTER TEN: “IS CONTINUAL SIN ‘OK’ FOR A NEW OR TRUE BELIEVER?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN: “IS ‘ALL STRESSED OUT’ THE EVIDENCE OF A SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE?”

CHAPTER TWELVE: “IS ‘SALT’ AND ‘LIGHT’ THE REDEEMED ONE’S TRUE CALLING AND MISSION?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: “ARE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS BOUND OR BLESSED BY OLD TESTAMENT LAW?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: “ARE TEENAGERS, YOUTH,UNMARRIED YOUNG ADULTS FREE FOR ROMANTIC SLEEPOVERS?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: “HOW WILL YOU PLEAD?”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: “WHEN GOD SPEAKS?”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: “THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD?”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: “THE GOD OF THE PEOPLE?”

CHAPTER NINETEEN: “THE PEOPLE OF GOD?”

CHAPTER TWENTY: “ENTER HIS GATES?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: “THE WAYS OF GOD?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: “WHERE ARE ALL HIS MIRACLES?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: “IS THERE IN YOU PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: “WHERE’S THE GRIEF?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: “WHY GLORY IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: “THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE OT THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: “ON WHAT DO YOU MAJOR?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: “SAD DEFECTIONS OR SURE ELECTIONS?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: “IS THERE DANGER IN WILDERNESS WANDERINGS BECOMING PERMANENT?

CHAPTER ONE

“YOUR STRENGTH OR GOD’S ABLENESS?”

IF “Christ in you” IS “the hope of glory”, then why are there far too many ‘professing’ followers who attempt devotion as disciples in their own strength (?), which is nothing more than wilting weakness?” One’s personal determination to honor Christ in the best effort of flesh-living is setting aside Jesus in them to a ‘closet-residence’ and they are void of ALL HE IS!

If we know that Holy God made Jesus to be sin for us…that we might be made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21), then why assert your impotence to please God when Christ stamped us through His shed blood as 100% as righteous as He is?

This is why in I Corinthians 1:30-31 Paul wrote: “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Oswald Chambers put it like this: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.149], “Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation.”

If, according to 2 Peter 1:4 we are “partakers of the divine nature,” then why reach into “the old man” and fail to “rest” in Him and all He is? Some are so deceived in their fleshly pride that participation in their spiritual journey is indulgence only in “the luxury of misery” and they miss out on the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ – and they do pay a high price in counterfeit devotion and discipline with no honoring of Christ alone.

Your weakness or God’s ableness? ‘Fleshly energy’ related to divine living is a blurring of the very Life and Presence of Christ! This is why in Romans 5:10 Paul wrote: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

It is not natural tendencies that honor our Lord but the supernatural triumph of His death, His burial, and His Resurrection Life that raised us up out of the pit of our own destruction to the throne of being seated with Christ in the heavenly place right now! This is why in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul said, “Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.”

But until one hears the Gospel Truth, is convicted by the Holy Spirit, and then receives “the gift of repentance” from God Himself, men wander and don’t know the wonder of His grace, mercy, and love, so they measure themselves by the themselves; oh, they wonder, no doubt, they question, they seek – in the wrong places, with wrong intents – and miss out on the wonderful words of eternal life, eternal mercy, and eternal grace. They miss the Mark set by God Himself.

You’ll remember that Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:15 that “…He [Jesus] died for all, that they who live SHOULD LIVE NO LONGER FOR THEMSELVES, but for Him who died and rose again ON THEIR BEHALF.” And I know you realize that there are those consumed by, controlled by, and diseased by the poisonous passion of living for themselves!

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus spoke of those who saw themselves as very religious but had never been re-born in the Spirit realm: Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who DOES the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cat out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ‘And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness?’”

Do you understand the ‘lawless’ and those who practice ‘lawlessness’? Look at the “Ten Commandments”! Why were they engraved on those tablets? That we might ‘touch’ the tablets, OR, that we might see our lawlessness because to offend in even one point is to be guilty of all. In Galatians 3:24 Paul wrote: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.” Justification by faith is the only open door into the Holy Presence and oneness with God Almighty!

Man’s self-weakness, even though he may believe he’s the strongest man God ought to accept because of that man’s own estimation of himself, is a self-portrait painted in dark, grotesque, dirty colors, denying God’s judgment that he’s a guilty sinner, short-circuited by continuous sin, alienated from Father-God, spiritually dead though he believes he’s living life in grandeur when in reality he’s bound in a dungeon-cell of personal destruction. The reason? Because if a man is not living for the glory of God alone, he’s bound in the goriness and deceit of a blinded, blackened, broken existence.

If you look at Romans 5 Paul describes those for whom our Lord and Savior died on the Cross:

• Verse 6, “For while we were still helpless (without strength), at the right time Christ died…”
• Verse 6, “…Christ died for the ungodly.”
• Verse 8, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Verse 10, “For if while we were ENEMIES, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…”; and Verse 10 doesn’t end with ‘the death of His Son,’ but with the “much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

Saved by your grit or saved by His grace? Saved by your determination or your dependence on His finished work? Saved by your abilities or saved by your availability to all God tells us? Saved by your efforts or transformed by Emmanuel? If we must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Holy God and give an account, on what or whom will you stand with? Your weakness or God’s ableness? Hebrews 9:24-28 says:

“For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest ethers the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another – He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

This is why Oswald Chambers wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.206], “The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of self-realization – ‘I am my own god’ – This disposition may work out in decorous morality or indecorus immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself.”

And do you understand that your claim to your right to yourself is your weakness substituted for God’s Ableness? Your grit, substituted for God’s grace, is vainness in place of the eternal victory of Christ in you and through you! Vainness is empty pride…Victory is Jesus’ eternal celebration. Vainness is a man’s constant pat on his back…Victory is Jesus’ Hallelujah Chorus that never ceases! Vainness is ineffectual effort…Victory is Jesus’ never-ending promise! Vainness is idle boastfulness…Victory is immense blessing out of the very heart of God that never ends!

Your weakness? That’s self-effort with “no wins”! God’s ableness? That’s divine initiative with never a loss! Your weakness? That’s your sin, your guilt, your penalty, your judgment that is not a ‘pretty thing’! God’s Ableness? His love, His power, His anointing, His never-ending provisions, His eternal watch-care, His faithfulness to see you through!

Your weakness? You are a descendant of Adam – hopeless, helpless, hollow – even though you’ve viewed yourself as fellow man’s greatest gift! God’s Ableness? In You? No hopelessness, no helplessness, no hollowness, no imperfections, just His divine clearance, His affirming voice: “This is My Beloved son in whom I am well pleased;” this is My perfect daughter, justified by faith, granted peace with God, and not a closed door ever to His perfect, powerful, promising presence!

Your weakness? Your worldly advantages become your heavenly bankruptcies; your tributes of earthly recognitions and earthly glories are described becoming nothing more of significance than before Holy God to be looked upon as “men of low degree, of mindless thoughts, of eternal emptiness” but, God’s Ableness? I don’t know who wrote it, but he/she said: “Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream, All the fitness He requires is to know your need of Him! This He gives you; it’s the Spirit’s rising beam!”

Is He shining His beams of glory on your life and your walk? Your weakness or God’s Ableness? I want you to think about Paul the Apostle – put yourself in his place momentarily! Your weakness or God’s Ableness? In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 we read: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is perfected [or made perfect] in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Did you see it? Do you accept it? “God’s power perfected in what?” “God’s power ONLY perfected in your weakness!” What did Paul say in Philippians 4:13? “I can do all things through Christ who strengths me.” Do you see a man in his natural state super-empowered by Divine strength? And yet how many have y7ou witnessed who leaned to their own understanding of themselves and did not depend, trust, rely, or wait upon God Himself?

Your weakness? “I can handle this; I am able; I’ve so trained, disciplined, learned for myself – and I can achieve what I want to achieve, overcome what I need to overcome, win whatever war I need to fight!” And when it’s over, you witness a whipped, beat-up puppy dog – the Lion of the Lord is absent! Your weakness? That’s one who lives on wild imaginations but is void of divine inspiration; that’s one who is fleshly motivated and makes his/her own plans – and may see them come to fruition without any inspiration from God or for God’s glory! Intellectually they reason it all out – but spiritually there is no anointing and no glory for God alone!

Would that be your weakness scribbled over the canons of your life as an imprint of your best effort void of the invasion of the anointing of God’s Spirit and God’s power? When “best efforts” replace “blessed anointing” we see defected canvases that win no acknowledgement from God!

I don’t know how I want to say this, but I’ll try: There is truly a golden rule of honoring God and glorifying Christ that comes when a disciple or disciples are empty of self and full of Jesus, empty of pride and pressing in to His fullness, empty of self-effort and full of the anointing, leading, empowering, and illuminating of His true Spirit of light!

It was John Tillotson who wrote: “He who provides for this life, but takes no care for eternity, is wise for a moment, but a fool forever.” Have you witnessed men who build decent reputations through their walks and journeys of life and yet are void of glory and honor and praise of God? It was John Milton, in “Areopagitica,” who wrote: “God sure esteems the growth and completing of one virtuous person, more than the restraint of ten vicious.” But what if virtuousness is for self-glory with no intent of opening the door to the honor and praise of God? Some men are virtuous without any intent of thankfulness or tribute to God! Think about it – now many NFL players play to honor God and the Savior, Jesus Christ? How many businessmen open their doors of businesses or banks or law firms to reveal Jesus? How many medical physicians or nurses do you know who see their professions as opportunities of mirroring Christ?

Slaves to worldly systems or servants of the Lord Jesus Christ? Men of selfish indifference to others or men of selfless involvement to reveal the Savior? Preachers of a professional, stage, performance status or Spirit-anointed messengers of the Most High God? False witnesses or an earthly-revealer of the Indwelling Christ? Meaningless testifiers or the very indwelling Presence and Spirit of Jesus Christ?

Your weakness or God’s Ableness? It was JohannWolfgang von Gothe who wrote: “Epochs of faith, are epochs of fruitfulness; but epochs of unbelief, however glittering, are barren of all permanent good.” Didn’t Jesus say, “By their fruits you shall know them?”

Your weakness or God’s Ableness? Are you truly aware that as God has no confidence in your ‘fleshly’ abilities neither should you? This is why in Philippians 3:3 Paul wrote: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

Paul then in Philippians 3:17-21 wrote: “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies o0f the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glorious in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself.”

I know you see it! Now, deal with it! “Flesh or Spirit”? Fleshly religious activity and spiritual hindrances or a spiritual presence and spiritual helps that truly bear witness to the Resurrected Christ? Do YOU count all things as loss to gain Christ or does what you hold onto in your fleshly walk determine your journey? Paul said what was his goal? “That I may gain Christ!”

In C.A. Coates’ book “The True Grace of God,” he shared a hymn that says: [p.126], “Yet sure in Your presence My soul still constant were, My eye would more familiar Its brighter glories bear. And thus Your deep perfections Much better should I know, And with adoring fervor In this Your nature grow.” Are you growing? Is it wild berries or ‘true fruit’? Your weakness or is it God’s Ableness? What are you resigned to – or what or Who are you resting in?

Is your spiritual journey continuous efforts at irreparable attempts of making your present life better apart from God’s redemption and reconciliation and regeneration or are you of the variety who says, “God, be merciful to me THE SINNER?”

Is God able to choose a man and make him into the father of many nations? Is God able to sustain, prepare, and then lead His people out of their bondages into His land of promises? Is God able to choose, raise up, or even put down kings and leaders over people and nations? Is God able to shut the lions’ mouths and protect His servants, delivering them even out of the lions’ dens? Can God separate the sea of your suffering and lead you through the parted waters of trouble on dry, safe ground? Can your God heal the sick, raise the dead, shatter your prison walls and set you free?

Has God, will God, does God take wounded sons and daughters, terrorized by godless or faithless dads and/or moms, and raise up true princes and princesses in the Royal Family? Is the God you know, the God you serve, the God you celebrate, the God who makes you more than a conqueror because of His great love; yes, is He the God who takes you out of death into Life Eternal, out of sorrow over your own brokenness into delighting in His healing grace, out of your meaninglessness into His eternal purposes and plans? Is God able to raise you out of man’s religions into His divine relationship?”

Is God able to spiritually take you out of your extreme, painful circumstances of life and sit you on and in His lap for heavenly hugs and holy presence that makes you stand in joy and delight and celebration? Is the God of miracles still present with you in your high mountains of misfortune and disappointment? Is God able to transform your vain glory into our eternal presence of a glory that never fades away?

Has one thing God ever promised you ever failed? In your house of bondage, when God said He’d deliver you out and into His Land, did that never happen? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

It was Peter who signed his name to his letter in 2 Peter 1:1-4, 10-11, saying: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father o0f our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection o0f Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you…Verses 10-11, Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”

What did Paul tell Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:12b, “…for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” Then Peter, again, in I Peter 4:19 wrote, “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.” What’s that about? In I Peter 4:14 Peter said: “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He (Jesus) is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.”

I felt I needed to share these next few poetic words God put on my heart after the “widow-maker” experience with a close call to death! It’s so important that we examine where we truly are in our spiritual journey: “Our Weakness or God’s Ableness”?

“Religions’ face is not divine but is so poorly displayed And rests in sad abandonment of all heavenly aid; Religions’ voices are so extreme in their delight, But cannot lift the heart when fear shatters the night.

Uninformed disciples, so distraught in their gaze, Wonder if it’s at all possible for their mortal hearts to be raised. Misfortune is their loss with no smile in their grief, There is no word of comfort to give any sweet relief.”

Religions’ face? They gaze and gaze and gaze each day, And religions’ vain glories never die away. Emptiness is their song and they wonder, ‘To whom do we belong?’ And because ‘their weakness’ is their scheme, God’s Ableness for them is a blank theme.

Heavy are their nights because God’s Presence is not in their sight. The lions they cannot tame because they never look to God who is the same. They live in the valley of the shadow of death and never know the God who gives LIFE.

Their lives are not temples but tombs of the devils’ prey, because in their hearts no allegiance to Christ holds full sway. Absorbed in self-indulgence, divine power is not in their play, Their hearts are so contaminated because ‘flesh’ holds the day.

Hopeless sighs are not Heaven’s songs, And the love of God is not a truth to which they belong. ‘Religion is self-effort’ they boldly proclaim, as the message of Jesus to them is so lame.

Then, there is that soul, upon its knees, who has a different theme, “God is my rescuer, and upon Him I lean. Jesus is my Savior, of Him I faithfully sing. He washes my sin in His own blood, and carries me faithfully over life’s great flood.”

Holy Presence in me is His eternal theme, and with the angels of Heaven, I faithfully sing. Lord of my life from now and forever, Word of my life that faithfully delivers. Jesus is able my faith to sustain, and upon me His Spirit does faithfully rain.

God is able to lift me up, and faithfully bless me with Heaven’s over-flowing cup. I am His, and He is mine – and upon my life His Sun still shines –

And the Day is soon coming, when at His table, I eternally will dine – because He and His disciples are mutually mine.”

CHAPTER TWO

“FALSE FREEDOM OR DIVINELY VALIDATED LIBERTY?”

In John 8:31-36 Jesus so truly spoke of the true, spiritual, practical, personal, eternal freedom that comes only through Him. His Word says: Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I Know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.”

There is no greater word for an enslaved humanity than the word ‘free’! And there is no greater man on earth than that man who spends his whole life on earth providing for or even fighting for or dying for the freedom of others.

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines ‘freedom’ as: “A state of exemption from the power or control of another (maybe Satan?); liberty; exemption from slavery, servitude or confinement…”

In Genesis 15:13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.” AND THEY WERE ENSLAVED – but there came that day when God divinely intervened and “set the captives free”!

Are you aware that there are those who “settle in” to captivity and think that it’s normal or just divinely intended? I truly believe Paul was joking about the Corinthians when in 2 Corinthians 11:19-20 he wrote: “For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly. For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face.”

Ezekial 34 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. God is up to something good here for all of us who’ve been enslaved in false freedom. He searches for His sheep, He leads them out of bondage to false prophets, He cares for His sheep and delivers them from darkness, from their cloudy and gloomy days, bringing them “out” from a deathly state of life to live in blessing, in security, because “you are My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men and I am your god,” declares the Lord God.” Oh, how good and great is that?”!!

But then, just as there is, false freedom, we must understand it is promoted by false prophets! Peter calls them “wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” [2 Peter 2:17]. Then in verses 18-22 he exposes their deceptions and their end! “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought out of bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled again in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

Sadly, some precious people have been enslaved, ensnared, and entangled in various webs of deceptions – and we can only pray that, out of that web of deception, men can be set ‘free’ by our Lord’s “divinely validated liberty”! “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” And Paul, in Romans 8:21, speaks of that freedom as “the glorious liberty of the children of God”!

Let’s look at ‘false freedom’ first. I’m convinced some are in bondage to the ignorance of their own SPIRITUAL DEATH BEFORE HOLY GOD.

When the Word declares that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” some ignore or are truly ignorant of the reality that “the wages of sin is death.” If you’ve never been one who reads, studies, or applies the Word of God to your life, you more than likely do not know the war between ‘flesh’ and the Spirit – that’s your old sin nature, the old man, the one not in union with Christ – so Paul tells us in Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally [or fleshly] minded IS DEATH, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Why is that? Because Romans 8:7-8 declares, “Because the carnal (fleshly) mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” That means that those controlled by, dominated by, captured by, devoted to their old sin natures are bound by that until “Christ sets you free”!

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul tells us, “For He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [in Jesus only].” I love Romans 5:10! It says, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

‘False Freedom’? THAT’S CHAINED TO ONE’S HURTS AND PAINS AND ‘GHOSTS” OF ONE’S PAST! Are you aware of hurting individuals who strongly, steadily, and as sure as day follows night, push down, try to bury, and attempt to suffocate their lostness, deadness, doubtfulness about their true identity in the sea of their forgetfulness? There are people who live with 5 days, 5 years, 50 years of pain and heartache and, yes, ‘ghosts’ out of their former days, knowing nothing of “new creations in Christ Jesus”!

You are aware that personal reformation is not divine transformation. Adapting is not being atoned for. Education is not evaporation of the errors (?) in your life that you now endure. Cosmetic covering is not Christ’s conversion of your old self to new Life in Him. When Jesus said ‘You must be born again,’ He said it to a highly religious man of stalwart, religious prominence! But he HAD TO BE BORN AGAIN! And so do we all!

“False Freedom?” THAT’S THE HOME-MADE TIME BOMB OF EXPLOSIVE SELF-REFORM! And it is so prevalent and presumptuous! “I can handle my own life – I don’t need God. That’s for sissies, for the weak-minded, for the sad folks who can’t stand on their own.”

And all around you are so many who will not bow before Truth because they’ve convinced themselves of ‘the Lie’[“I can sin and not die!”] – and they live by ‘self-modification’ and not the “sure mercies of God.”

Are you understanding? Controlled ‘flesh’ does not bring one into a personal relationship with Holy God! Best efforts do not reveal or unveil Blessed Emmanuel! A ‘natural,’ independent, self-ruling man is not free but bound in his weakness, blind to the spiritual, and burdened [though he may not know it] by the heavy load of his GOD-LESS-NESS! Natural values and virtues hinder and bring one to that absolute necessity of “:new birth,” not even knowing Hell’s armies have surrounded them to hold them back from “crucified with Christ,” thus becoming a child of the King.

“False Freedom”? THAT’S ONE WHO “SAYS” HE IS FREE BUT LIVES IN BONDAGE TO HIS CARNAL DESIRES AND HIS INSTINCTIVE, INDULGENT INCLINATIONS! In I Corinthians 3:1-3 Paul spoke of some Corinthian Christians who were behaving like “mere men.” “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”

And “mere men” are those bound to their carnal desires and their instinctive, indulgent inclinations! “Mere men”? “We must increase – Jesus must decrease!” “Mere men”? “We don’t need to ‘perfect holiness’ because we have no fear of God!” “Mere men”? “We live on a common-sense basis and are not goaded by a God you profess to know!” “Mere men”? “We don’t have to be still and we don’t have to know He is God!”

It doesn’t take long to “see” and to “know” where a man’s heart i9s – and if it’s a closed heart to God, you’ll see a man daily grinding at the mill of self-indulgence, smelling worse each moment because of his rotting sensuality, easily angered by any mention of Jesus, and either coming apart at the seams of his life or angered and fighting back because he’s yoked with the devil and the powers of darkness.

That man is not delivered FROM his sin but has been given over TO his sin. The prison cuffs become heavier and heavier – the demonic voices become louder and the demonic traps more frequent and devastating in nature. He’s bound like a Samson by the deceptions of the Delilahs!!

“False Freedom”? THAT’S ONE, YES, BOUND BY THE CHAINS OF RELIGIOUS SUPERSTITIONS AND DEMONIC PHILOSOPHIES! In Galatians 4:8-11 Paul so eloquently and in convicting fashion nailed, yes, some professing disciples who had decided for bondage rather than deliverance! He wrote: “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”

In fact Paul was so bold to the church at Corinth that he wrote them: I Corinthians 8:9-12, “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their conscience, you sin against Christ.”

Plus, in I Corinthians 7:35, he wrote: “And this I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is seemly, and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” But bound by the chains of religious superstitions and demonic philosophies is not true freedom! This is why we read in Colossians 2:6-10, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

“False Freedom”? Dare I say that some false freedom is also the result of POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENTAL BONDAGE BY LEADERS WHOSE INTENT IS TO DECEIVE AND ENSLAVE THE PEOPLE THEY SUPPOSEDLY ARE TO BE SERVING, SETTING FREE, AND WATCHING THEIR GODLY GOVERNANCE OF THEIR LIVES, FAMILIES, AND ETERNAL PURPOSES!?!

“If Jesus sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” And I believe eternal honor is given to those who expend and extend and express their leadership to free others from the chains of civil bondage and governmental imprisonment, seeing men possess, enjoy, and share in their God-given rights: LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF BLESSING – NOT ONLY BEING A USA PRINCIPLE BUT A BIBLICAL STANDARD FOR GOD’S GLORY!

I’ve only given you a sip, a taste, of ‘false freedom’ but what is our “Divinely Validated Liberty”? Again, John 8:36 says, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

I pray you see, sense, and fully understand that this “Divinely Validated Liberty” IS THAT SOVEREIGNLY PLANNED BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THIS WORLD! Revelation 13:8 speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” And if you have any doubts, the prophetic Word of Isaiah 53:4-7 tells us: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

In John 1:29 the Holy Word tells us: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” And that was Jesus of Nazareth! Revelation 5:11-13 says, Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wisdom and riches, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I hear saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

It’s God who sits on the throne! It’s the Lamb seated on the throne who took our place on the Cross, died, and yet forever lives! And all of that is out of the heart of God who tells us: John 3:16-21, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

But also “DIVINELY VALIDATED LIBERTY” IS THAT WHICH WAS AND IS SACRIFICIALLY PURCHASED: It is ours because Jesus has revealed it as a sovereign work of His power, but required, in the mind and heart of God, as that purchased by His shed blood! This is why, in Acts 20:28, that we read, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

No doubt this is why we read in I Corinthians 7:23, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” That price was and is the shed blood of the Lamb of God whose name is Jesus. Are you truly aware of WHO Jesus IS and what Jesus DID AT THE CROSS? This IS the eternal Son of God, God Himself, who gave up His freedom and His very Life that you and I might be set free. Jesus gave up His freedom that you might be LIBERATED FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH! The old hymn says, “Jesus Paid it all, All to Him I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow!”

DIVINELY LIBERATED LIBERTY IS THAT, NOT ONLY PURCHASED BY HIS BLOOD, BUT SWEETLY PRESENTED BY HIS RESURRECTED PRESENCE, POWER, AND PROMISE: Do you understand? In His love He bought you and by His power He raises you up to His throne of everlasting life – and by His grace He liberates you to live in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You may have been in sackcloth and ashes, but in your repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ, He clothes you in His righteousness and instills within you everlasting freedom and liberty. We’re no longer “bound” but “blessed”, not imprisoned by our old sin natures but liberated by His blood and power, not hidden in darkness but one celebrating in the Light, not by self-effort or personal merit but by the grace, mercy, and love of God!

Certainly, it was for sinners He died, because there was and is none righteous, no not one! But though bondage is a curse, through His blood He gives us blessing. Though bondage is a chain, through His blood He gives us freedom. Though bondage is darkness and the very valley of the shadow of death, our Lord dresses us in the beautiful gowns of freedom and liberty. Though bondage is always cruel darkness which stings us and strangles and stifles us, His True Light shines and the darkest midnights of the soul become the high noons blazing in His personal, abiding presence.

DIVINELY LIBERATED LIBERTY IS THAT WHICH, PURCHASED BY HIS SHED BLOOD, BECOMES THROUGH GRACE AND FAITH OUR PRESENT AND PERENNIAL POSSESSION: Do you understand “chained through the ages” but now, through His shed blood, we’re free in the eternal fresh air of holy presence? Bound with the guilty, but now free with the emancipated, bound with the dark ones, but now celebrating with sons and daughters of light, bound with the slaves of sin, but now servants of His holy righteousness, bound in the darkness of sinful hearts, but now servants of God by the dawn of new creation Light?

BUT, LASTLY, DIVINELY LIBERATED LIBERTY IS THAT WHICH, PURCHASED BY HIS SHED BLOOD, GRANTS TO US A PERFECT PARDON: Micah 7:18 says, “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love [or mercy]. Verse 19, He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You [God] will cast our sins into the depths of the sea.”

How does that happen? Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Yes, even King David knew and understood God’s perfect pardon! He said, Psalm 32:1-5, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand, God, was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

It was Spurgeon who said, “Forgiven sin is better than accumulated wealth.” The precious prize of pardon is a dark night turned into the brightness of Heaven’s eternal shining sun on a forgiven son whose sin has been washed and cleansed in the Lamb’s blood! Isaiah 43:25 says, God speaking, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.” Glory!

The memory of past sin, washed in the blood, is not to be like a hanging noose wrapped around your throat! What you were without Christ is not who you ARE in Christ now. Doesn’t His Holy Word tell us, Psalm 32:2, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity (or charge his account with), and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

If any man after death had any perception of a life of unforgiven sin and what he had in store for an unforgiven life of rebellion to God, I believe he’d fall before the Cross and empty tomb, confessing his sin, and calling out for mercy and grace. Oh, please hear Oswald Chambers in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.255]. He quoted Hebrews 10:14, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified [or ‘set apart’].” Then Chambers said: “It does not matter who or what we are, there is absolute reinstatement into God by the death of Jesus Christ and no other way, not because Jesus pleads, but because He died. It is not earned, but accepted. All the pleading which deliberately refuses to recognize the Cross is of no avail; it is battering at another door than the one which Jesus opened. I don’t want to come that way, it is too humiliating to be received as a sinner. “There is none other name…” The apparent heartlessness of God is the expression of His real heart, there is boundless entrance in His way. “We have forgiveness through His blood.” Identification with the death of Jesus Christ means identification with Him to the death of everything that never was in Him…The Atonement is a propitiation whereby God through the death of Jesus makes an unholy man holy.”

Divinely Validated Liberty, or freedom, is: “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” []John 8:36].

CHAPTER THREE

MAN DIES! DOES HE LIVE AGAIN?

I don’t know of a more crippling question if one’s life has no foundation of saving grace or mercy, and he asks, “If I die, will I live again?” Death for many is, yes, death to truth because in their minds and hearts they wished to die, having no saving will to live! I saw recently in print a man speaking of “fine dying [which is] a man’s privilege…” But if he doesn’t know if he lives again, what is “fine” about that? That may be the wicked and the weary and the worn down who want what they’ve experienced to be over! But it’s not.

Death is not a ‘troubling dream’; death is not a punishment but an open door to a different state of life; death is either a dread because of the door it opens to some, but for others it is the gate of life opened to eternal blessing; it’s so sad but death for some is experiencing death without having appropriated the life God desired them to claim, while others continue their blessed life of faith even though they have died in resurrection hope, power, and promise.

It’s for certain that there truly is ‘a democracy of the dead’ in which equality is real and sure. It was the “Aerzte-Kalendar” from Germany that had a quote saying: “The thought of death leaves me completely calm because I have the firm conviction that our spirit is a being of indestructible nature, continuing from eternity to eternity; it is similar to the sun, which seems to set each night for us mortals, but which actually never sets, instead continues to shine uninterruptedly.,”

It is for sure our ‘being’ is of an indestructible nature and continues on and on and on either in Heaven or Hell! For some that eternal state after physical death is immeasurable blessing in fellowship with Holy God, with the Lord Jesus Christ, and engulfed in still greater blessings in and through the Holy Spirit; but the ‘lost,’ the unbeliever, the rebellious, the deceived, there remains forever eternal torment under the control of Satan and his satanic demons and armies forever and ever, experiencing a ‘death’ that will not die! For them, death is not the gate to heavenly pleasure but hellish dread.

I really do not know how the ‘godless’ even think about ‘death’ with its open door to continual corruption, demonic disturbance, and satanic slavery. But born-again believers? They take their “rest” on the bosom of Jesus, wrapped in His arms of love and grace and mercy! But the worldly? It was George Eliot who said: “Worldly faces never look so worldly as at a funeral.” IN Revelation 14:13 we read, “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: ‘Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘That they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

That is an awesome word of encouragement and enlightment. There is a ‘rest’ from our labors, and what we’ve done in the earthly life follows us into the heavenly life! No doubt this is why the author of Hebrews wrote: Hebrews 4:9-10, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” And, in Hebrews 3:18-19, gracious God has given us a warning: “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” When I read these verses I realize that that moment of death is not as one embracing a moment of final sleep but entering, for them, a new and lasting awakening to the fullness of Heaven’s blessings or the fullness of Hell’s curses!

The Holy Word speaks of “rest” for the believer in death, but to the unbeliever Revelation 9:12 speaks of “One woe is past; and behold, there comes two woes more hereafter.” But the born-again believer? Look with me at I Corinthians 15:50-58!! Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ “O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

I pray you see and are fully aware that born-again believers know and are fully persuaded that death has lost its sting! Yes, for the true believer “death is swallowed up in victory”!

But not all men know “death swallowed up in victory” but death sounding with cruel cries, heavy hearts, and sorrowful loneliness. Eglon, king of Moab, had conquered Israel and ruled over them for eighteen years. But the Lord raised up a deliverer whose name was Ehud. Ehud came to the king carrying not only ‘tributes’ but trouble – he brought a dagger! In the presence of the king, Ehud said to Eglon, “I have a message from God for you.” The dagger was “death swallowed up in defeat!”

You may not have heard of the venerable English preacher, George Whitfield, but in his early ministry days he fell ‘deathly ill’, and was not sure he would live or die. He experienced an extremely high fever and thought his time had come. There was a blessed negro woman who was caring for him. She said boldly, “No, Mr. Whitfield, you are not going to die yet; you have thousands more to bring to Christ; keep up your spirits, for you will live and not die – the Master has a big job for you to do.”

Job no doubt wrestled with himself and God about the reality of death. In Job 30:16-23 we read: “And now my soul is poured out because of my plight; the days of affliction take hold of me. My bones are pierced in me at night, and my gnawing pains take no rest. By great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about as the collar of my coat. He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and you regard me. But You have become cruel to me; with strength of Your hand You oppose me. You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it; You spoil my success. For I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.”

Spurgeon wrote in his “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Vol. 17, p.299], “It is the part of a brave man, and especially a believing man, neither to dread death not to sigh for it; neither to fear death nor to court it. In patience possessing his soul, he should not despair of life when hardly pressed; and he should be always more eager to run his race well than to reach its end.” Sound words of wisdom from Dr. Spurgeon!

I have a very solemn statement to share with you that I firmly believe can change your life forever if you respond positively to it. Here it is: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” That comes from Isaiah the prophet to Hezekiah who was sick and near death. [Isaiah 38:1].

Across the seventy-seven years of my life I have witnessed death in the old, in the young, in babies, in middle-aged men and women, scholars, athletes, doctors, housewives, mothers, fathers, soldiers, policemen, historians, prisoners, patriots – but regardless of their status economically, financially, socially, spiritually – whatever, they still died!

The psalm-song of David ought to be learned and sung over and over: Psalm 39:4-7, “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about as a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.”

It was Augustine who used to speak uncertainly, not sure whether he ought to call life “a dying life or a living death” – and it’s certain the temporal life is a dying life and we are living to die, but that’s simply earthly and fails to face the eternal! I’ll never forget my New Testament professor of preaching at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, who told us regularly: “Preach as a dying man to dying men!”

Again, Spurgeon, [“Spurgeon’s Sermons,” Vol. 17, p.301] preached: “Early in the life of my boys I took them to the old churchyard of Wimbledon and bade them measure some of the little graves within that enclosure, and they found several green hillocks which were shorter than themselves. I tried thus to impress upon their young minds the uncertainty of life. I would have every child remember that he is not too young to die. Let others know that they are not too strong to die.” Then Spurgeon shared about Paracelsus, a very famous physician of old time, who prepared a medicine that he believed would extend a life for a long time if taken regularly, and maybe never die, except of extreme old age; and guess what? Paracelsus died a young man!

Job not only believed though that the hour of death would come since “it is appointed unto men to die,” but that also, after death, there are “houses appointed for all living.” Beyond death, beyond the grave, there is Satan’s abode and the Savior’s home in glory. Where you spend eternity is to be settled in your own mind, heart, and will.

What did Job say? And did he say it because he truly believed it and rested in it? “I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.” Providential plans are firmly established for “life after death” because of His revealed Word: Didn’t David describe for us the joy in the true believer because of his after-death destination? Psalm 23:4-6 tells us: “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER!”

There is resurrection life AND resurrection hope! It’s Job again, Job 19:25-26, who cemented and celebrated for us the true believers’ after-life when he said: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, THIS I KNOW, that in my flesh I shall see God.”

Paul understood our future after our earthly departure. In I Corinthians 13:12 he wrote: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” And in Christ we are KNOWN BY GOD HIMSELF!

Do you know it, sense it, celebrate it, shout it out on the housetops? Didn’t we read I Corinthians 15:53? “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality?” Glory! Glory Hallelujah!! Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary describes “immortality” like this: “The quality of never ceasing to live or exist; exemption from death and annihilation; life destined to endure without end; as the immortality of the human soul – Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…” [2 Timothy 1:10]. Noah Webster went on to describe immortality as “exemption from oblivion…existence not limited.”

And all of this is because, I Timothy 1:17, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God alone who is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” SO BE IT!

But I do know that there are so many people, even some in our local churches, who’ve never broken through their walls of fear about death to rest in the eternal hope of their oneness in and with Christ Jesus for the forever life in Heaven. Of course, some are afraid to die because they know they are separated from God, and intend to stay that way – but Hell scares them. I can only pray they get Hell scared out of them because Hell is real as Heaven is real, but it truly is a ‘hellish’ place!

Again, listen to the wise Spurgeon who operates as a surgeon on the disease of the fear of death and Hell: [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 17, pps. 312-313], “When the decree of God is our delight, we feel no abhorrence to anything which He appoints either in life or in death. If we are living as Christians ought to live, we have denied our self-will, and we have accepted the Lord to be the arbiter of all events, the absolute ruler of our being. If your soul is truly married to Christ, you find your supreme bliss in the Bridegroom’s will. Your cry is, “Your will be done.” This should be our ordinary condition in daily life; and it is an admirable preparation for thinking of death with composure. Let me live, if God will be with me in life; let me die, if He will be with me in death. So long as we are “forever with the Lord,” what matters where else we are? We will not further ask when or where; our ‘when’ is “forever,” our ‘where’ is “with the Lord.” Delight in God is the cure for dread of death.” Amen?

Are you at peace that if you lie down in your bed tonight that it just might be your last night alive in your earthly body? The one thing I believe we gladly receive through the truth of God’s Word is that a man is not prepared to live fully if he’s not prepared to die in faith – not fear. How does that come to be?

RECFEIVE GOD’S FAITHFUL WORD FOR YOURSELF ABOUT LIFE AND ABOUT DEATH. What did Jesus tell us? “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” How’s your daily menu in God’s Word?

RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM DYING. Isn’t death appointed? It doesn’t matter where you live death occurs. It doesn’t matter how educated you are – one is not wiser than death. It doesn’t matter how physically strong you’ve disciplined y7ourself to be, that moment comes when death rules. It doesn’t matter how religious you’ve trained yourself – death is inevitable. Psalm89:49 says, “What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?”

RECOGNIZE THAT, ONCE DUST, TO DUST WE SHALL RETURN. Yes, Job spoke of ‘corruption’ that ‘you are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ alerting himself that he does go the way of all men – and he knew his time would come. Do you deny it? “In Adam all die”! But, praise God, in Christ we live forever even though the physical perishes!

RECOGNIZE, YES, THE WAGES OF SIN IS, ALWAYS HAS BEEN, ALWAYS WILL BE ‘DEATH’! What does Romans 5:12 tell us? “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned – “ So, we’re hopeless? Look at Romans 5:17! “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Christ Jesus.”

RECOGNIZE IN YOURSELF THE REALITY OF YOUR OWN AWARENESS, ASSOCIATION, OR AFFINITY WITH THE INEVITABLE!! And do you know what happens when we get gut-level honest with ourselves? We begin to ask questions, to look about us to the overcomers of the fear of death, to truly ask, “Does God have a word for me?”, to set aside satanic influences of unbelief, doubt, or fear, and to begin a journey of faith and obedience to “my Savior” who died and rose again!

In Psalm 91 we find such a powerful word of enlightment, encouragement, and an enabling to live the overcoming life in Christ. It says: Verses 14-16, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” Living in Christ is living abundantly because that’s LIVING IN AND THROUGH GOD ALONE!

CHAPTER FOUR

“LIFE AS A VAPOR? WHERE’S ITS SIGNIFICANCE?”

In “The Works” of Alfred Lord Tennyson, [p.546], the famous poet and writer of the past, wrote the following words: “Visions of youth – for my brain was drunk with the water, it seems; I had past into perfect quiet at length out of pleasant dreams, And the transient trouble of drowning – what was it when matched with the pains Of the hellish heat of a wretched life rushing back through the veins?” The very next writing?

“Why should I live? One son had forged on his father and fled, And if I believed in a God, I would thank him, the other is dead, And there was a baby-girl, that had never looked on the light: Happiest she of us all, for she past from the night to the night.”

A suicidal youth and a dead baby girl who never saw light! And some believe they’ve celebrated life by drowning or just dying right out of the mother’s womb? I believe I’d call that “maimed, marred, misspent living.” I pray that it would alarm you, stir you, challenge you, that you would discover multitudes around you who see for themselves no real value in living – as James 4:14 asks, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

And that’s true of masses of people! Certainly we were all created free to choose whether to live as a fleeting vapor or a victorious son and daughter of God Himself. But sadly, the paralysis of believing, of trusting, of obeying the God who made us, leaves one spiritually and morally empty, and he/she does as he/she pleases with desperate, darkening consequences. “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

Presumptuous people are for the most part people who are arrogant, filled with fleshly pride, irreverent to revealed Truth, ‘living’ unto themselves in a state of spiritual blindness, darkness, and unbelief. They defy conscience, promote vainness, and despise holiness and holy revelation.

Vapor victims? Life has no meaning for them, life purpose is a paralysis they think they avoid, life relationship to God is hollow for them, life values are personal merits rather than Prince of Peace mercy; life music has no sound chords but only death and dying, off-key rhythms; life’s ‘self’, as Francis Bacon wrote, is ‘the chiefest bridle of all vices’; “life is doubt so just do as you please;” life is for many an untruth that sprouts into total falsehood, becoming Satan’s sharp teeth to sink into others; yes, and vapor victims can be victims of religion apart from relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ!

Robert Burns, in “The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” wrote: “Compared with this, how poor Religion’s pride, in all the pomp of method and of art, When men display to congregations wide, Devotion’s every grace, except the heart!”

In “Gentle Alice Brown” Sir William Schwenk Gilbert wrote: “Of all unhappy sinners, I’m the most unhappy one! The padre said, ‘Whatever have you been and gone and done?” LIFE IS A VAPOR! That’s “what you’ve been and gone and done!” How sad is Job 7:6-10? “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be. As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.”

Fast, fleeting, hopeless days – a brief breath – a vanishing cloud – one who is no longer known – with Job at one point in his earthly journey even saying: Job 7:16, “I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are but a breath.”

“Life as a vapor? Where is its significance?” James helped us so much to understand “hope” when one sees himself as totally “hopeless”. In James 1:14-16 the brother of Jesus wrote: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” How did Paul the Apostle put it? Romans 5:10 says, “For id when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

Paul said later in his letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He [God] mahe Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That’s our eternal victory not temporal vapors! But the sad truth is some who profess faith in Jesus’ shed blood for their sin never consider5 its purpose in God’s grace and mercy to extend, express, and enlighten His righteousness through their daily journeys!

“My sins are forgiven!” SO? For what purpose and to whose glory? In Romans 5:14-17, 20, the Apostle of faith challenges us: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more, the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus. Verse 20, Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

I’m not interested any further in elaborating on our death, our state of death, or our date with death, but that out of that spiritual death our Lord and Savior has released for us “resurrection life, resurrection power, and resurrection hope.” It’s so true that a man needs to understand his latter end and the briefness of his days on this earth, but more importantly one needs to grasp, “Why am I here? And, what is the purpose of my existence?”

Spurgeon said, [“Spurgeon’s Sermons”,Vol.15, p.54], “Among the earnest, the prayerful, the holy, many must own that the vaults of death have brought them spiritual health.” And I believe, even more, confronted by Christ, testified to by the lives of His servants, spiritually convicted by His living Word, one comes to the holy hour of divine confrontation and eternal intent!

Significant day? Significant life? I believe that’s the day of truly eternal significance when one is gripped, not by what today or tomorrow brings, but WHO HOLDS US IN HIS HANDS AND ARMS AND HEART OF SAVING GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE. Have you heard our Lord say to you: “You are Mine because I love you, I died for you, and I rose from the grave to draw YOU unto MYSELF?” In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read, :For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Significant day? Significant life? At least “vapor” shows us how meaningless and fleeting we are in ourselves. I believe, by God’s Word and by God’s Spirit and by God’s faithful witnesses, that we begin to sense, receive, and stand upon our eternal purpose of “LIVING” in the glory and relationship of oneness with Him! Paul put it like this in Galatians 1:15-16, 24: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…v.24…And they glorified God in me.” In Galatians 2:20-21 Paul enlightens us even more: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God…”

Significant day? Significant life? The new disciple’s life is not for pats on our backs but for praises to the God of grace. In I Peter 2:9-10 Peter tells us: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

Paul, in Romans 1:3-5 speaks “concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom YOU ALSO ARE THE CALLED OF JESUS CHRIST…”

“Obedience to the faith”? In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 Paul wrote: “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”

Ambassadors for Christ, messengers to a lost and dying world, witnesses of His amazing grace, love, and mercy, the story-tellers of eternal truth, the flag-carriers of kingdom allegiance – extensions of His life, expressions of His love, the proofs of His power!

Significant day? Significant life? What about safety? What about security? What about ‘settled into’? What about heavenly significance of service and sacrifice? What about life as a true hymn of faith? In Isaiah 33:14-17 the prophet wrote: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites; “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil; He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, His water will be sure. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will see the land that is very far off.”

Spurgeon wrote: [“Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 15, p.31], “Safety in Zion belongs to those born in her by regeneration, reared in her by sanctification, enfranchised in her by faith in the Son of God, settled in her by fixed principles, confirmed in her by obedience to her laws, and bound to her by intense love of her king and her citizens. Such “shall dwell on high” secure from danger, and only such: the aliens and foreigners within her gates shall ere long be driven forth with shame.”

“Life as a vapor? And where is its significance? Just think for a moment about Paul’s challenging statement to the Galatian church – Galatians 4:19-20, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.” Do you grasp a present, participatory, praying spirit in the “professors of faith” around you? For many, rather than significant, saving faith, it is an attitude of shame toward God and they’re angry with Him. In Isaiah 45:22-25, God speaks: “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, ‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.”

That’s because some are so ‘self-sufficient’ that they believe God ought to bless them because of their meritorious ‘spiritual genius’ – and God laughs! But the ‘true Israel’ calls for mercy. The true Israel calls to God for new hearts. The true Israel cries out for grace to abound toward them more and more. The true Israel knows and understands there is no hope for them save in God Himself! Their faith and trust is living – not dead, it is dynamic – not dormant, it is heart-changing – not cosmetic!

Significant day? Significant life? Do you remember the angel’s description of John to Zacharias? Luke 1:16-17 says, “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Oh, how awesome is that! Our faith in Christ is a walk making ready people prepared for the Lord! YOUR LIFE IN CHRIST? It’s not a fictitious story of faithlessness but the true story of people preparing to meet their God!

What does Ephesians 2:8-10 tell us about our life and living in Christ in eternal significance? It says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

What is a ‘professed’ faith if there is no life change? Your outward life may be perceived as “All For God,” but if there is no new heart by the grace of God, it’s a sham, a pretense, a false witness! But grace, true grace, births a new witness – Titus 2:11-12 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age..” Then in Titus 3:5-7 he amplifies it to Titus, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

There’s nothing ‘skin-deep’ about saving faith in a “new life” – saving faith is the reality of crucifixion with and in Christ and raised up as a new creation. In Psalm 24:3-5 David wrote about the King of glory and His Kingdom citizens. He said: “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

Oh, examine your ‘life’ of faith. Is it a true life of faith – redeemed by the blood of Christ, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and renewed by the Living Word of God? Are you a free man in Christ Jesus? Free from the darkened sins of your old sin nature? Free from the uncontrolled vices of guilt and shame and bondage? Free from the oppression and domination of the powers of darkness? Free from the fashionable sins of a perverted people? Free from the starvation diet fleshliness birthed in you? Free from the abomination of a defenseless nature of sin and death?

What did Jesus tell us? John 10:27-30, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal live, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

Oh, but that is not all you need to rest in!! Look at Romans 8:31-39!! What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Vol.15, pps. 46-47] Spurgeon said: “As for the waters, the living waters of grace and of the Holy Spirit, these shall always flow: in summer and winter shall the still waters be found at your side; yes, they shall be within you “a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” Words cannot tell the privilege of the man who lives in God and lives with God! He need not shiver in the damps of the earth – he lives on high; he need not fear the fury of the enemy, for he has a place of defence; he need not dread the lapse of time; his munitions are of rock; he need not tremble at famine and drought, his needs shall all be met by the care of heaven. The man who knows his sins are forgiven, who is covered with the righteousness of Christ, who is in vital union with the Lord Jesus, who is indwelt by the Holy Ghost: that man, I say, need not desire to be any other than he is, but may give himself up to blessing and praise and magnifying the Most High every moment of his life till he is caught up to the highest heaven, to dwell where enemies cannot threaten nor necessities arise.”

Always remember: self-righteousness is a curse – Savior-blessed righteousness is heavenly celebration daily; self-acceptance is deceit if Christ within you is not your delight; self-approval is blindness while Christ’s Atonement is true sight and heavenly vision; self-worship is the devil’s delight while “rejoicing in the Lord” is a disciple’s journey and eternal destiny’ self-will is spiritual sickness while divine will and blessing is healthy living, thanks to God’s love, mercy, and grace.

Psalm 39 is an awesome psalm of personal awareness and a psalm of one’s awareness of the great, great need of God to transform “vapors” into the eternal breath of God in us. The psalmist wrote: I said, “I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me.” I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue: “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreaths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is a vapor. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as well as my fathers were. Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more.”

Hear me! If your “life” is a life of significance and celebration it’s because you are “in Christ Jesus”! No other reason or explanation! So… “All hail the power of Jesus’ name! Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all!!”

I truly celebrate Christ Jesus every time I pick up and read Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest.” On pages 140-141 he listed Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him.” Then he said confirming words to this chapter: “The initiative of the saint is not towards self-realization, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. [I say, that’s true life!]. The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and He will bring us to the same point again and again until we do. SELF-REALIZATION leads to enthronement of work; whereas the saint enthrones Jesus Christ in his work. Whether it be eating or drinking or washing disciples’ feet, whatever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing Jesus Christ in it! Every phase of our actual life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father in the most menial work. “Jesus knowing…that He was come from God, and went to God…took a towel…and began to wash the disciples’ feet.”…The aim of the spiritual saint is “that I may know Him.” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am here not to realize myself, but to know Jesus…[the disciple’s] aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is in.” AMEN?

CHAPTER FIVE

“IS THERE WISDOM IN WAITING ON GOD?”

In “Tennyson’s Works” I do not know what spurred the following but it does speak, not to waiting, but postponing what could have happened earlier in two lives. Tennyson wrote: “And the wind began to rise, and I thought of him out at sea, And I felt I had been to blame; he was always kind to me, ‘Wait a little, my lass, I am sure it will all come right’ – And the boat went down that night – the boat went down that night.”

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines waiting as “staying in expectation.” I like that, but I also know that waiting can be ‘wilting’! Job said in Job 14:14, “…All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes.” He didn’t want to be ahead of God or behind Him. Job said later, Job 17:13-15, “If I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness, if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?”

There’s no doubt Job knew a ‘waiting’ apart from God can be so demonstrative of everything but Godly living and Godly expression and experience. He had learned to battle through dark moments and come out in eternal Light. In Job 19:25 he said, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth, Verse 26, And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.”

Living in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, area it is not unusual to see a large number of auto wrecks daily, snuffing out lives by the hundreds over a year’s time, and some because of faulty brakes – but spiritually far too many outside of automobile wrecks have no wisdom, no understanding, no prudence to protect, but live so recklessly. Fleshly or carnal security is not exempt from spiritual stupidity. They don’t possess holy wisdom but learn self-pride and self-wisdom goes before a spiritual fall which can become so disastrous. Their lives have faulty spiritual brakes because they’re devoid of divine wisdom.

There is such an impressive, inspirational instruction in Isaiah 40:29-31. It says, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Of course, you are aware that “youths and young men” feel they are so invincible that they need no one, not even God! But they do “faint,” they do “fail,” and they do “fall.” Even “old men” wax “old” in foolishness and will “live” in spiritual death because they base their lives on fleshly desires, inordinate affections, maddening morality, and give no place for God in their lives! It’s not just old garments that become “ragged and torn”, but old men as well who have no wisdom.

Wanton, worldly wisdom waits not on God but wilts and dies because men build “houses” with no foundation of faith or on unstable, improper, yes, deathly foundations without God!

Knowing the reality of heavenly wisdom that comes from “waiting on God” comes because one recognizes truly that “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Apart from Him it’s death in full mode. And this, no doubt, is why inspired by the Holy Spirit, James wrote 1:5-8 which says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Lacking wisdom and knowing it is not a universal blessing but sadly a universal curse because most men really believe they are wiser than God Himself and more able to handle their own affairs leaving God Himself out of their lives. “If any of you lack wisdom” – how wise or insufficient of wisdom are you? Do you understand that when it comes to our lives in the spiritual realm that most have never had a tutor – they are content with spiritual blinders to ignore rather than have unveiled in them the wisdom of God.

But James told us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him.” Let’s see what we can discover about the wisdom of waiting on God!

WE’VE JUST SEEN IN SCRIPTURE THE WISWDOM OF WAITING ON GOD THROUGH PRAYER: If we look at Ephesians 5:18 we hear Paul instructing us to “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” It’s for sure that “praying…in the ‘flesh’” is of no value but praying in and through the Spirit-Man opens the door to the very mind and heart of God.

In James 4:2 James said: “Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” Didn’t Jesus tell us in Matthew 7:7-11 about asking and receiving? “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

BUT ALSO THERE MUST BE THE WISDOM OF RECEIVING FROM “THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES” AS OUR EXAMPLE: In Hebrews 12:1-4 we see a challenging word for us: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Forconsider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted ti bloodshed, striving against sin.”

Tell me about that godly “cloud of witnesses” that you’ve allowed to surround your life – family, friends, ‘angels unaware,’ teachers, neighbors, classmates, the converted and transformed ‘drunk’ or drug addict, the friends whose marriages were saved by Christ Jesus, that holy professor whose presence constantly caught YOUR ATTENTION.

Acts 5:25-32 highlights for us godly witnesses that cannot be silenced or denied – and all around YOU are godly witnesses from whom you can and will receive their “cloud of glory” as they reveal to you their salvation journey. “So one came and told them, saying, ‘Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!’ Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, ‘Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!’ But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.’” And doesn’t His Word speak about a “great cloud of witnesses”?

THEN ALSO THIS GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES IS THE WISDOM THAT ACCEPTS GOD’S EXCHANGE OF HIMSELF FOR OUR NOTHINGNESS: In I Timothy 6:7 Paul wrote: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” To Titus Paul wrote: Titus 1:15, “…to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled…”

I don’t hesitate in saying to you that apart from God’s salvation in and through Christ ALL MEN are as nothing – that’s zeroes. No eternal LIFE, No eternal significance, and yet our Lord valued them enough to die on the Cross for their nothingness to bless them with Heaven’s everything and ALL!

Alfred Lord Tennyson, in “Despair,” wrote the following: [“Tennyson’s Works,” p.545], “Hoped for a dawn and it came; but the promise had faded away; We had passed from the cheerless night to the glare of a drearier day;….He is only a cloud and a smoke who was once a pillar of fire, The guess of a worm in the dust and the shadow of its desire – Of a worm as it writhes in a world of the weak trodden down by the strong, Of a dying worm in a world, all massacre, murder and wrong….O we poor orphans of nothing – alone on that lonely shore – Born of the brainless Nature who knew not that which she bore!….Trusting no longer that earthly flower would be heavenly fruit – Come from the brute, poor souls– no souls – and to die with the brute.”

In Isaiah 40:17 the prophet looks upon the nations of the masses of people and says: “All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.” But then, because of His great love and mercy, He chooses to die in our place that we might live in Him and through Him! In James 1:2-4 James wrote: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Do you see that? Out of a saving, tried faith, God’s people allow the steadfastness of God to do a perfect work in them, and they become mature and complete, lacking nothing. The “nothings” become inheritors of His everything! In Jeremiah 29:11 our Lord speaks: “For I know the thoughts that I have toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

ALSO, PLEASE NOTE, IT’S WISDOM, TRUE WISDOM THAT DISCOVERS AND DEPENDS UPON THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD: One of the awesome passage of the Old Testament is found in I Chronicles 29:10-14 which says, Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: ‘Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.”

A solemn, serious, sacrifice of praise is in order every day of a man’s life concerning the greatness of our God. In fact, I see it as indispensable – and apart from the worship and praise of God’s greatness, it causes me to wonder if they’ve truly entered a saving relationship with Holy, Merciful, Loving God. The greatness of God is immortal!

The greatness of God, yes, the awareness and acknowledgement of it by men, breeds eternal interest, abiding love for, and continual praise and bowing before and celebrating our great God! The absence of that in one’s life is evidence they’ve never met Him, or known Him, or loved Him, or celebrated Him. Psalm 48:1 says, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised…” Great in goodness, great in mercy, great in love, great in His activity, great in His wisdom, great in His deliverance, great in His salvation, great in His assurance, great in His glory, great in His power, great in His name, great God, great King, great Savior, great Lord, great Peace, great Joy – do you know, do you serve “The God Who Is Greater?”

THIS LEADS US TO THE WISDOM THAT OPENS THE HEART OF WORSHIP AND PRAISE AND ADORATION IN A TRUE BELIEVER’S HEART AND SOUL: In John 4 the woman of Samaria had come to draw water and Jesus asked a drink of her. The woman responded, verse 9, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” In verse 10 Jesus responded to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” What a curve-ball to a ‘strike-out queen! But, at least now, encountered by Jesus, she wants to know where one gets ‘living water’!

In telling her about the ‘living water,’ Jesus tells her that the water He’ll give to her will become in her a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life! Then, beginning in verse 21-26, Jesus reveals to her the heart of true worship! Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of [or through] the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

And who are the true worshippers? Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh [or one’s old sin nature.”

Revelation 4:8-11 is a picture of those who “bow” before Holy God and their Savior in an unending attitude of adoration and praise! It says: “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes, around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

I remember in my very younger years, maybe 8-11 years of age, when I visited my father’s parents in Athens, Tennessee, they had a large two-story home with a wrap-around porch from the front door all the way around to the back door. I often walked around the porch and would witness a woman on her porch on her knees with her hands lifted high. I asked my grandmother one day what the woman was doing, and she responded, “Why, son, she’s worshipping and praising and praying to God. She bows before Him every day.” I didn’t ask her but I should Have: “Mammaw, do you bow and pray every day?”

I would ask you right now: “Are you a disciple who bows, who prays, who worships God every day?” I love the statement that I heard on an occasion: “Worship is transcendent wonder.” It was Rufus Jones who once wrote: “Worship is the act of rising to a personal, experimental consciousness of the real presence of God which floods the soul with joy and bathes the inward spirit with refreshing streams of life.” WOW!

Psalm 95:1-7 says: “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”

IT’S ALSO WISDOM THAT UNVEILS THE WILL OF GOD AND THE WAYS OF GOD: In Ephesians 6:6 Paul wrote: “not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, DOING THE WILL OF GOD FROM THE HEART.” Then, in I Thessalonians 4:3 Paul said: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” And sanctification means what? That’s one “set apart” for the glory of God alone!

Oswald Chambers wrote in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.217], “Am I willing to let God do in me all that has been made possible by the Atonement? Am I willing to let Jesus be made sanctification to me, and to let the life of Jesus be manifested in my mortal flesh?”

Then Chambers added: “All that Jesus made possible is mine by the free loving gift of God on the ground of what He performed, my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness), a holiness based on agonizing repentance and a sense of unspeakable shame and degradation; and also on the amazing realization that the love of God commended itself to me in that while I cared nothing about Him, He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul says nothing is “able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Wisdom unveils the will of God which unveils the very ways of God! We know that Jesus says: “I am the WAY…” Is His way your way? In Luke 1:67-79 Zacharias had been filled with the Holy Spirit, and he prophesied saying: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Now, look at verses 78-79 again! “Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Are you a part of “the new and living way”? Hebrews 10:19-25 says: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching.”

It’s my earnest prayer that “the new and living way” is your path, and that you choose God’s will and God’s way every day of your life! In Deuteronomy 30:11-20 we read: “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

But last of all, in this chapter, I WANT YOU TO SEE, SENSE, SEIZE, AND STAND IN THE WISDOM THAT SHARES IN THE WORK OF THE LORD: In Acts 9 we have recorded Saul of Tarsus’ conversion experience. As he was confronted by the Lord, at first he didn’t know who He was, but then in verse 6, “trembling and astonished,” Paul said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Far too many who have “been saved” (?) want the Lord’s stamp of approval for their plans of a disciple’s walk, but not His! In Acts 9:15 the Lord Jesus said to Ananias, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Verse 16, For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Paul was a “first round draft choice” by our Lord. And he signed on! In I Corinthians 9:19-27 he said: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law, ( not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” [Check out 2 Timothy 2:15-21!]

You do know that there is a night coming when no man can work. Don’t be delayed in fulfilling our Lord’s calling through your life and witness. Are you a laborer together with God? And, like Paul, we’ll not serve our Lord with our own preconceived ideas, but “Lord, what would You have me to do?” Oswald Chambers said: “One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God then one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit….Unless the worker lives a life hidden with Christ in God, he is apt to becoming an irritating dictator instead of an indwelling disciple.” [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.83].

W.H. Bellamy and Wm. J. Kirkpatrick wrote the following old hymn: “O troubled heart, there is a home, Beyond the reach of toil and care; a home where changes never come; Who would not fain be resting there?…Yet when bowed beneath the load, By heaven allowed, your earthly lot; Look up! You’ll reach that blest abode; Wait, meekly wait, and murmur not….Toil on, nor deem, tho’ sore it be, One sigh unheard, one prayer forgot; The day of rest will dawn for you; Wait, meekly wait, and murmur not.”

WAIT ON THE LORD!! IT’S WISDOM!!

CHAPTER SIX

IS IT COMMONPLACE TO BE DECEIVED?

Thomas Adams once said: “The devil is no idle spirit, but a vagrant, runagate walker, that never rests in one place. – The motive, cause, and main intention of his walking is to ruin man.” If you have a problem believing in the devil, guess what? You’ve been deceived by the very author and master of deception! In I peter 5:8 Peter wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.”

It was Shakespeare in “Comedy of Errors,” [Act 5, sc.1, l.9] who wrote: “He must have a long spoon that shall eat with the devil.” I’m not sure I agree with Thomas a Kempis writing that, “The devil does not tempt unbelievers and sinners who are already his own,” because entrapment, deception, a lying spirit, and, yes, temptation overflows out of him and his devilish army, not just to disciples of Christ but even to our Lord’s enemies.

But neither do I believe deception comes only from Satan. In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 Paul wrote: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

Genesis 3 is our introduction to deception that becomes so commonplace – and the very first verse says, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” Several things take place here that every man, woman, and child is susceptible to: 1) The devil casts doubt on the Word of God, 2) The devil twisted truth and distorted it, 3) The devil confuses – Verse 3, 4) The devil spouts the BIG “LIE” – you can sin and not die, Genesis 3:4 5) The devil breeds unbelief and then entices – Verse 6.

And look what happens as a result of a commonplace deception! Verse 7 says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made them coverings.” That’s the early birth of ‘FIG-LEAF RELIGION’ which dominates fallen humanity.

There are deceitful men whose evil hearts dictate commonplace deception. The Word speaks of “deceitful and unjust men.” In Psalm 120:2 the psalmist cried out in his distress saying to the Lord, “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.” Have you tried to score that with your national leaders or your investment advisers or your children’s teachers or, yes, even your church’s overseers?

Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” And that surely can be more than the devil and his army! And if you, apart from Christ, have not learned it about yourself, get ready! Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, God speaking: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

In Ecclesiastes 9:3 the “wise man” wrote: “This is an evil; in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; [do you think deceit might be included in “the hearts of the sons of men (who) are full of evil?] madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.”

What did God say through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:3-6? “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” says the Lord. “Everyone take heed to hios neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Mw,” says the Lord.”

There was a day, after serious preparation, that Jesus had left Jerusalem for Bethany, and He was hungry. In Mark 11:13 the Word says: “And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves…” The fruit had not been produced yet. And I wondered – does the Lord look for heavenly fruit on the trees of our lives or is He disappointed when He sees fruitless trees that deceive the public about our professional faith but are barren trees?

Deception? Commonplace Deception? Fallen men without Christ are specialists at examining one’s profession of faith – and sadly, too often, rather than a sacrificial life they see covetousness, rather than a servant spirit they see self-centered multitudes of church folk simply examining their spiritual navels! Spurgeon was right! “A false professor [of Christ] exposes Christ to ridicule.” Outward allegiance breeds individuals who inwardly are becoming “gospel-hardened.” Do you remember “the parable of the two sons” in Matthew 21:28-32? Don’t miss the “I go, sir,” but he doesn’t go! That’s deceit – not true wisdom!

Why is it that some know TRUTH but find that truth clouded over by fleshly lies that they have time to resolve their spiritual dilemma later? That’s deceit! Here’s how Spurgeon dealt with that attitude as he preached: [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol.9,p.198], “Pity the poor naked spirit which so soon will be quivering with utmost agony, a self-caused agony, an agony from which it would not escape, an agony of which it was warned, but which it chose to endure sooner THAN GIVE UP SIN and yield to the scepter of sovereign grace.” WHAT A DECEPTION!

Think about Adam and Eve in the Garden as Satan came to deceive them! And consider again that the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was not, is not, never will be the fruit of the tree of life. And where has the majority of fallen humanity chosen to find their fruit? Bitter trees – blessed fruit? Or bitter trees of life – blessed fruit of life? The devil’s choice or the Savior’s sacrifice?

Deception! I’m sorry, so very sorry, for the millions who bow before idols and receive no salvation help. Deception! I’m sorry, so very sorry, for the millions who follow religiously dead men and know nothing about the Living Savior and Lord. I’m sorry, so very sorry, for, yes, masses of people who go to cemeteries without any hope of resurrection life and power. Deception!

Deception? The author of Hebrews calls us all to a high alert! In Hebrews 3:12-14 we read, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you8 an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end…”

“Departing”? Has the Hebrews author alerted, yes, ‘believers’ to the danger and a disaster of a life deceived by sin? He speaks of our “rest” but then in Hebrews 3:15-19 he says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

If a man is deceived, if a man is falling, if a man is falling because of disobedience, repentance is as necessary for the stumbling as it was for one’s conversion experience, which is why Hebrews 4:16 alerts us, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Thank God that grace and mercy is truly available to the brokenhearted over their deception!

We’ve already seen that Satan himself since the days of Adam and Eve has been busy with “deception” – “has God really Said?” “You surely shall not die”! “I’ll give you a kingdom to rule over!” But there is more: I Peter 5:8-9 tells us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a rearing lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhoods in the world.”

I say to you with a heavy heart that I would be seriously concerned about a lost man or a believing man who would dare to say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about – I’ve had no threats from the devil?” Could that be because he’s already fully captured and controlled? And it’s more than deception, it’s more than even devouring – he wants to destroy your witness, destroy any faith you may have, destroy your ministry, destroy your family, destroy your circle of influence. He wants you so deceived that you’re no longer a threat to his field of operation.

But it’s not only the powers of darkness who want to paralyze you from seeing and walking in the highway of holiness – there are also worldly men who will, who do, who attempt to short-circuit your connection with faith in Christ. In Ephesians 4:12 Paul wrote: “that we should be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting…”

Far too many believers are totally unaware of “the trickery of men”! The prophet Jeremiah looked around his community and country, and in Jeremiah 9:1 he spoke of his “eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” But God had to say in Jeremiah 9:3, “…they are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me.” And then in verse 6 the Lord told Jeremiah, “Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord.

Then, in Matthew 24:11, Jesus moved away from ordinary men spouting deception – He said: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” In Isaiah’s day, Isaiah 30:8-11, God told Isaiah, “Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for time to come, forever and ever; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who say to seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, tuen aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” And certainly this modern-day is a day in which rebellious people promote, allow, even love “smooth things”, and false prophets are raised up to “prophesy deceits.”

But God is so gracious. In Isaiah 30:21 He tells us, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” You can trust God even when you’re attacked with ‘deception’ and you find yourself afraid. Corrie Ten Boom said before her death, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Then there is another path you could find yourself on if you’re not alert, not careful, and not disciplined in “the way of righteousness.” In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 we read: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Unrighteous deception? And notice, unrighteous deception because they “had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Didn’t we see in Hebrews 3:13 about some being “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin?”

Also there is the “mere men malady”! Look carefully at I Corinthians 3:1-3! “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” Then Paul later warned us and alerted us to the “blessed walk of faith.” That’s I Corinthians 3:18-23! But how does this “mere men malady” capture some in deception? Matthew 13:22 says, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of the world and THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES CHOKE THE WORD, and he becomes unfruitful.” DECEPTION CHOKES TO DEATH – NOT LIFE!

Let me share one more dilemma that some find themselves in. In Colossians 2:8 Paul wrote: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Then he opened wide the door of faith and trust and hope and blessing when he said in Colossians 2:9-10, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Question? In your journey with Jesus, what is your greatest blessing outside of your oneness with Christ? Before going to the next chapter, please read Luke 10:1-20!!

CHAPTER SEVEN

IS THE GOAL OF CHRISTLIKENESS UNATTAINABLE?

There are those who truly believe that if their names are recorded in a church’s membership role then certainly all is right between them and the Lord Jesus. I don’t know anything any further from the truth than that statement. There are those who say they are probably more knowledgeable about Jesus because from infancy on they’ve attended a church regularly. But I have to ask again, “Does church attendance validate one’s salvation experience?” Does burial in a Christian cemetery assure that one buried there must have been a believer? And did that dead ‘believer’ conform his life to Christ’s life?

Even ordained ministers have often been deceived in their journeys – “why of course I am Christlike – if not, how was I ordained? Why, almost daily I am counseling needy souls and every Sunday I preach at least once – and you wonder if I’m Christlike?” Have you ever been around “a biblical scholar” whose daily walk has no resemblance to spiritual soundness and reflects poorly on the spirit of the power of Truth and gives no evidence of the “second birth”?

In a church community have you ever been around faultfinders or constant, unbearable, condemning gossips or condescending bullies? Slander is a chief weapon of those who “profess” Christ but know nothing of possessing or being possessed by the fullness and spirit of His Life! Their mission in life? To right the wrongs in every one’s ‘life in Christ’ but their own.

Have you ever heard it? “Well, I presume I am saved because I was baptized as a baby, as a child, as a teenager, or as an adult – of course I’m saved!” “Oh, I might not resemble Jesus – but I try.” “Yes, I’m a Christian – I may not look like Jesus – I may not resemble Him at all, but do you want to see my baptismal certificate?”

And I would ask: “Were you crucified with Christ? You know you live, but no longer YOU – it’s Christ in you who is the hope of glory? Did you die to your flesh [your old man, your old sin nature] so the Spirit of Christ might live in you and through you?” Have you passed from death unto life and that life of Christ sealed in you by His Spirit? Or have you suspended the journey because you believe since you were “saved and baptized”, beyond that it’s foolishness? I don’t think so!

“Patience for His perfect work?” “Why, I’m “saved” already, so what’s this business of a ‘spiritual perfect work’?” “You mean I’m supposed to look like Jesus in all I am or all I do or in all I say? That sounds like salvation by works to me. I’m going to stay away from those “work” words!” If one has been truly “born again,” he/she begins a journey of conformity to Christlikeness, taking the sentence of death daily that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested, fully released, each day.

“Patience for His perfect work” appears to many as a path to ‘rose-colored’ living without a single problem. When Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation,” to many that sounds like a betrayal of true faith even though Jesus suffered, bled, and died on the Cross!

What’s the question? “Is the goal of Christlikeness unattainable?” Do you grasp the identification of the one who asks it? That’s the one who is not truly acquainted with the Word of God, not familiar with biblical truth, and, yes, not identifying with even the words of Jesus! They are influenced by the world, the world in the church, by the flesh, and by the devil himself – and the devil surely doesn’t want you to be even a believer who identifies with the Word of God! Darkness in the mind about one’s true identity in Christ is a devilish ploy to bring deception into fruition rather than a true believer standing on the Word.

I know there is ‘holy anxiety’ at times when one has known the Truth, walked in it, and, maybe, fallen away from it for a brief moment, but a “new-born” son or daughter of God will, I say WILL, arm themselves afresh and anew against sin and death. It was Spurgeon who said, “There is no temple of the Philistines which shall not fall beneath the might of our greater Samson.” I pray you receive that truth!! He then quoted a hymn with powerful words: “No power in earth or hell Can force me to depart; Christ is my strength unconquerable, He fortifies my heart…Fixed in His love I stand, And none shall drive me thence; Enclosed I am within the hand of Love’s omnipotence.”

Do you truly understand “abiding in Jesus”? There is JOY in abiding there! There is PEACE in abiding there! There is FULLNESS in abiding there! Paul told the church at Rome: Romans 15:29, “But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” What a word of hope and encouragement to us!

Christlikeness unattainable? It’s so opposite the holy work of the Cross and the empty tomb, so opposite the Word of God, and so opposite the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He magnifies in you the resurrected Christ! It’s not impossible in attaining Christlikeness. It’s not impossible for you daily to choose death to yourself so the resurrected Jesus can be fully released through you.

What did Paul say in Galatians 2:20? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” He then identified a major problem some ‘believers’ find themselves in when in Galatians 3:3 he said: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh [or your old sin nature]?” He then asked the Galatians as I now ask you: Galatians 4:9, “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire to be in bondage again?”

Are you aware that there are those who turn back rather than press in? Are you aware that some “professors” choose the weak and beggarly elements over the God-given provisions of Holy Presence, living promises, and fullness of divine life? It even happens with churches! Listen to Spurgeon: [“Spurgeon’s Sermons,” Vol.19, p.359], “The new plan is to assimilate the church to the world, and so include a larger area within its bounds. By semi-dramatic performances they make houses of prayer to approximate to the theater; they turn their services into musical displays, and their sermons into political harangues or philosophical essays – in fact, they exchange the temple for the theater, and turn the ministers of God into actors, whose business it is to amuse men. Is it not so, that the Lord’s day is becoming more and more a day of recreation or of idleness, and the Lord’s house either a joss-house full of idols, or a political club, where there is more enthusiasm for a party than zeal for God?”

“Is the goal of Christlikeness unattainable?” Yes, if a church doesn’t preach and teach faithfully the Word of God. Yes, if the church promotes and demonstrates worldliness rather than God-likeness. Yes, if pulpits are claimed by unregenerate men who’d just as soon deceive people than preach Truth. Yes, if church members are satisfied with dried-out bread, muddy water, and spoiled fruit!

Poor quality disciples become vessels unto dishonor because devotion to Truth wanes and wanes and wanes – and one then can’t discern a difference between a so-called disciple and the world around him/her. Divided allegiances between half-hearted disciples and the world will not usher in, demonstrate, or validate the very sovereign rule of heaven on earth. Our Lord wants disciples who know His kingdom rule and authority and cry out faithfully: “Christ’s kingdom come, Christ’s will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven.”

“Is the goal of Christlikeness unattainable?” It certainly is if those professing faith in their redemption in Christ is squeezed in to a vessel that sees no problem if it’s dirty, impure, mixed, callous to the heart of God, compromised at every turn, and not protective of his/her or God’s reputation, certainly not sold out to a pure heart and washed in the blood of the Lamb!

It was Watchman Nee who wrote the book, “Changed Into His Likeness.” [Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, Penn., 1973, p.52]. In it Nee said: “The Church counts for nothing in herself, save as a vessel to bring in Christ. God’s purpose is in the Son.” And if ‘your purpose’ is other than the Son, you’ll never see, sense, or celebrate His Life in you! And then on page 53 Nee really unveiled why many Christians miss out on the blessings from heaven. He said: “God does not only want right things done; He wants us to be the medium of right things that HE is doing.” That means a true disciple is the true vessel that contains the True Savior who does His heavenly work in an available human vessel. If you were crucified with Christ, why are you attempting to do His work? WOW!

Nee then said, “I am afraid this is not a popular thing to speak of. Preach to stir men to more evangelizing, more activity, more sacrifice, and they will listen and agree. But talk about the worthlessness of our work for God, even when it is not sinfully but well done, and we meet with disapproval and misunderstanding. Yet this is the central point in service. Whether we can bring in Christ to be God’s vessel of recovery depends on whether we can get out of the way to make room for Him…Only what He does in us and through us can satisfy Him.”

Do you see it? Our attempts at helping our Lord become major distractions to His working in us and through us. And when we are determined to serve Him through our best efforts, we shut the door to Him! We attempt – we fall short. We go out to serve – and come home empty-handed. We try in the best energy of our flesh, fail, and then question ourselves if Christlikeness is really obtainable! Then we learn: No – it’s not OUR trying but trusting Him to be faithful in His work through us.

That can be a tough place when a strong human will becomes a stumbling block to Christ Jesus Himself! It’s a challenge, I know, to be able to say every day or this particular day, right now, “Lord, I know it’s time I choose an end to myself where You can be in me and through me “My All In All.” But when we’re determined to chart our own course of Christian service, then the Christ in me is forced to a back-seat or a second-place. Do you see it? Extreme self-confidence detracts and even demotes Jesus to a behind-the-scenes watcher! Inflated egos close the door to Christ to do His work, His way, and in His will, but He has not, will not, force Himself in fullness on an empty, brainless, fruitless, “I can handle it, Jesus” kind of devotee!

“Well, I AM GIFTED!!” And they give no place to the GIVER! What does Romans 6:11 tell us? “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Have you failed to grasp what our Lord is telling us through Paul as he wrote in I Corinthians 1:26-2:5? “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 2:1-5, then says: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Self-will, fleshly power and determination shuts the door on the fullness of Christ in us! Oh, but we read in Colossians 3:1-4, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

I know it may be a ‘shocker’ to you, but God is not at all interested in your improvement – we all come up short, so God crucified us all with Christ! Get over your failure, rest in faith, let Christ stand in you as your hope of glory!

Christlikeness is not unattainable when I grasp that God’s desire in me is for me to be an empty vessel in which Christ Jesus is fully welcomed! I Peter 1:6-7 says, noting that the “revelation” we read about is “the unveiling of Christ in us and through us: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation [or unveiling] of Jesus Christ…”

Paul was a travailer in prayer. In Galatians 4:19 he said, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth [pains] again until Christ is formed in you.” He could have said he was travailing until Christ was fully released through you! Oswald Chambers said: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.268], “I cannot enter into the realm of the Kingdom of God unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth. ‘You must be born again’ This is not a command, it is a foundation fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that Christ is formed in me. Immediately Christ is formed in me, His nature begins to work through me.”

How does that come into fruition in your life? You believe, receive, repent, yield to, and walk in Christ Jesus! 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.”

Do you see it? Self-energy blocks Christ’s fullness in you! Self-effort is like an earthly dam holding back His eternal supply of All-Sufficient Life, grace, power, love, and His faithfulness to Holy God through us. When Jesus is made Lord of your life, that tells me lordship has switched from self to the Sovereign Lord and Savior of the Cross and empty tomb – and if God raised Jesus from the dead, and He did, so can He raise us out of our state of spiritual death and resurrect us to allow Him to be Himself in and through us!

And because your body, your life, is now the residence, yes, of the very life of Christ, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Yes, the goal of Christlikeness IS attainable!

I close with statements by Oswald Chambers in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.56], “I have to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit until both are in accord with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I insubordinate in intellect?” Am I forming the mind of Christ, Who never spoke from His right to Himself, but maintained an inner watchfulness whereby He continually His spirit to His Father? I have the responsibility of keeping my spirit in agreement with His Spirit, and by degrees Jesus lifts me up to where He lived – in perfect consecration to His Father’s will, paying no attention to any other thing. Am I perfecting this type of holiness in the fear of God? Is God getting His way with me, and are other people beginning to see God in my life more and more? GOOD QUESTION!

CHAPTER EIGHT

“IS IT SELF-MADE TOWERS OR HIS DIVINE HOLY PRESENCE?”

It didn’t take long after the “fall of men” for God to look down and see the following in Genesis 6:5-6, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved ion His heart.” But earlier, in Genesis 5:24, we read of a man that the Word says, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” What a contrast!

And over thousands of years things haven’t changed that much. There are still those who “give themselves over” to their wickedness, and there are still those who “choose to walk with God.” Without hesitation, I believe God is still “grieved in His heart” because of those who willfully choose to walk as ‘god’ unto themselves and refuse “Amazing Grace.”

But when you come to Genesis 11 and Genesis 12 you begin to see “The Beginning of Confusion” and “The Beginning of Unveiled Purpose.” Confusion can and often does erupt in some local churches among believers. In I Corinthians 14:22-23 Paul wrote: “Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?”

In verse 33 Paul then said, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

The sad truth that grips my heart in 2013 is that far too many folks cannot, will not, have no intention of discerning between ‘peace’ and man-made confusion, yes, even in some churches! “Is It Self-Made Towers OR His Divine Holy Presence?” Have we chosen to live in “peace” or fleshly confusion? Do we choose “God’s Way” or the fleshly rule? Is it surrender to His voice or are most men directed by “the world, the flesh, or the devil”? Is it God’s conversion and His construction of heavenly life in you or is it man’s confusion and corruptness and clouding out of a God-ordained life or church fellowship?

In Joshua 24:14-15 Joshua spoke to the people of Israel and us when he said: “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Do you have an Angel guiding, establishing, protecting, providing for your every need? In Exodus 23:20-25 God speaks: “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perezites and the Canaanites and the Hivities and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. You hall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.”

That is not simply an Old Testament promise to Israel, but when you read Philippians 4:19 you see a New Testament valid promise to men and women of redemptive faith. Paul said: “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Isn’t this why David said in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want”? Oh, fallen men may accumulate much, except for what the inner man wants and needs. Worldly men, void of God, remain empty, unfulfilled, and certainly not “blessed”!

Heavenly men? They are an “extension of God’s LIFE,” an “expression of God’s Love,” and “the proof of His never-ending power and glory”! Earthly men? They are as “sounding brass” and “clanging cymbals” with lives and instruments out of tune, off-key, void of a Director, and producing nothing but poor music in themselves and their walks.

In I Corinthians 15:47-49 Paul tells us, “The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.” The image of the heavenly man? That’s men of faith and trust and obedience bearing the image and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself because of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross!

This takes us back to Genesis 11:1-9! Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel [Confusion], because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

I pray, having been confronted by “self-made towers” or by “Divine Holy Presence” and eternal purpose, that you choose to “walk with God” like Enoch, and that now you eagerly await God’s taking of you into His eternal home.

Notice: “Come, let us…” Where is God in all that? You’ll remember that Adam and Eve, deceived by Satan, thinking that “having their eyes opened, would be like God, knowing good from evil,” all of a sudden realize they had been lied to, and thus, [Genesis 3:8], “hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” And men, in “self-made towers,” are still hiding themselves from the presence of the Lord with most of them not even knowing what they are doing!

“Come, let us…”! You’ve seen them, you know them, you’ve rubbed shoulders with them: “We’re the masters of our own destiny! We don’t need God! We’ll build ourselves and build our own cities, and they will reach the heavens!”

“Come, let us…”! “Who knows better than us what we want to do with our lives? Get this, you Christians: ‘us’ is more than you and collectively we’re smarter than your God!”

“Come, let us…” what we want to build, erect what we want to erect, construct what we decide needs to be constructed to “better our lives.” Really? Better when most are void of eternal purpose, void of a meaningful, blessed relationship with the God who made them, void of any desire of ‘Heaven is my home,’ settling for a hellish relationship that lasts forever with the devil and his demons?

“Come, let us…” live with our uncontrolled, lustful passions, live with our lives enslaved to worldly lusts, selfish ambitions, harmful spiritual diseases that steal true life from us, live dominated by the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil, bound and enslaved but never recognizing the spiritual chains and spiritual prison bars.

“Come, let us…” leave God out of our ‘life equations,’ because we’re able, we’re strong, we’re mature, we’re wiser than the wisest of that Christian community. The ‘lifelessness’ of godlessness, even in its sickness, is superior to a Godly submission.”

“Come, let us…” savor, cherish, hold onto our independence from God and His ‘unhealthy’ people – we’ll stand alone, on our own, free as a living prisoner can be.”

“Come, let us…” choose our selfish, limited, emotionally limited infancy of life that exposes our hollow hearts, our sinful minds, and our fallen natures that seek to hide us from God’s control.”

“Come, let us…” go on our own way without God, never realizing our steps away from Him produces in us a sad reality like suffocation or drowning or a deathly state of hopelessness that tries to deny, refute, or cover over the emptiness that unbelief in the God of eternal salvation produces.”

“Come, let us…” deny that the sacred nature of human life is more important than the secular and that choosing to walk independent from God is not sickly, deathly, or producing ‘killer’ viruses in us that God calls ‘sin’ or ‘sinfulness’ or ‘spiritual death.’” Really?

“Come, let us…” pump ourselves up in our egos with an unfounded confidence that ‘faith in God’ is unnecessary, unimportant, and really unfounded.” Really?

“Come, let us…” follow our own wishes, hopes, and dreams of anticipation of self-fulfillment that we know will satisfy our fleshly selves, our darkening desires, enabling our true selves to be birthed, raised, and matured to self-happiness.” Really?

“Come, lets us…” embrace a choice of lifestyles that is impurely self-centered, crowning ourselves as rulers over our hedonistic, sexually immoral activity that identifies us with a fallen world in general.”

“Come, let us…” head ourselves in the direction of a worldly happiness that has nothing to do with “Jesus joy” even though He said His joy was a joy that “remains in you and stays full.” Though happiness is fickle and unsure, we’ll gamble ourselves on ourselves to find our own happiness.”

“Come, let us…” live with the bread of our own achievements since the God of the Bible tells His people tribulation awaits His own. We, in the world, live with the fruit of our own labors.”

“Come, let us…” treasure our treasures, gloat over our accomplishments, forget God, lift up our hearts in pride, and set aside His biblical commands.” Oh, but I say to you, please receive Deuteronomy 8:17-18, 19c: “Then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives your power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant…” But if one says, ‘Come, let us…, then in verse 19c God says: “I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.”

Then, I know you’ve noticed in Genesis 11:4, And they said, “Come, let us build…”! Do you grasp who we are reading about in the early existence of human beings, birthed into fleshly life amidst the very handiwork of God in His masterful Creation? But they say, “Come, let us build…” Consider the universes, consider the planets, consider the vastness of our outer space and the beauty of earthly mountain-peaks and valleys, consider the awesomeness of oceans and majestic fields, consider the beauty of fields ready to be harvested, consider the Rose of Sharon, consider what He has built – and remember that Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it…”

If you carefully read and receive the Book of Jeremiah, you will discover, not our ability to build, but one’s availability to all God is and to all God does! God told Jeremiah in chapter one, verses 18-19, “Therefore prepare yourself and arise…For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar…For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”

Yet, one chapter later, Jeremiah 2:32, God said: “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.”

“Build?” “Come, let us build?” Whatever man “builds” is a futile effort if they do not see, understand, or grasp for themselves what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:13-19! When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Do you understand that man “builds” tombs of death while God, through available men of faith and trust, build tabernacles of Holy Presence?

In Acts 20:32 Paul said: “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified.” Question! What is it to be sanctified? That word means “set apart” to the honor and glory of God alone – and whoever you are, whatever you ‘do,’ is to be or to build to God’s glory! That’s to be your ‘built business’!

But what happened in Genesis 11:4 as the ‘let us’ crowd began to “build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; [and] LET US MAKE A NAME FOR OURSELVES…” This is in spite of Psalm 100:3 as David said, “Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.” “…we ourselves?” That’s those who say, whatever God has done, we can do better. We’ll make a name for ourselves.” But do YOU understand? Whatever you do of merit, the honor belongs to God alone, whether you give it to Him or not! This is why in I John 1:8 John wrote: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

In Isaiah 28 the prophet spoke of “scornful men” who in verse 15 said, “For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.” Then, when you come to Nehemiah 1 you see a ‘vision development’ birthed out of a burden and Nehemiah praying for his people and for their opportunity to once again be favored by God. He wrote: Nehemiah 1:3-11,

And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before you now, day and night, for the children of Israel, Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept Your commandments, the Statutes, not the ordinances which You have commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.”

But, hear me; just as Jesus ‘redeemed’ all of mankind at the Cross doesn’t mean all men are forever saved if repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of the Cross is not exercised! Nehemiah was passionate for his people as we ought to be for our people – but some are so intent on “making a name for ourselves,” Jesus is just an option for them that they never exercise! Again, Nehemiah said in verse 11, asking God to listen to those ‘who desire to fear Your name…’! Isn’t it tragic? How many do you know, even IN the church, who fear God’s name?

There’s a warning in Psalm 9:5 where the psalmist says, “You [God] have blotted out their name forever and ever.” And though their name has been erased from God’s remembrance, it doesn’t mean their eternal life is now extinct – they live forever under the curse of Hell’s flames, the devil’s domain, and cannot escape the “death that never dies”!

And then what happened in the fallen nature of men in Genesis 11:4 as they sought to “build ourselves…a tower whose top is in the heavens”? It was 400 A.D. when Augustine wrote the following in his “Confessions”: “How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self? Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know You.”

Most ‘tower-builders’ do not know themselves and thus have no intimate knowledge of Holy God who longs to “birth” their lives in the Spirit as His earthly dwelling! Most ‘tower-builders’ are stuck in themselves and have no comprehension of God’s ‘tabernacle-dwelling’ in and through their lives. And that’s because their minds and hearts are clouded over concerning the intensity and power of evil.

My son, Stan Fisher, urged me to read Peter Scazzaro’s book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” In the third chapter, [pps. 42-43], Scazzaro spoke about “The Beast Today” out of Revelation 12, 13. He then said: “The beast tells us: *happiness is found in having things; *you should get all you can for yourself, as quickly as you can; *security is found in money, power, status, and good health; *above all, you should seek all the pleasure, convenience, and comfort you can; * God is irrelevant to everyday life; * Christianity is just one on many alternatives to spiritualities; * there are no moral absolutes; whatever is true for you is what is true; *you’re not responsible for anyone but yourself; and * this life on earth is all there is.

“Tower-builders or tabernacle-dwellings”? You do understand that ‘tower-builders’ choose darkness over light, the here and now over the eternal awareness, physical and earthly dividends over spiritual and eternal blessing, the temporary, fleshly satisfactions that soon disappear, waiting for a bigger and greater ‘hit’ that one received the last time around and still come up empty. OR,

What about tabernacle-dwellings? What did Paul tell us in Galatians 2:20? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me..Verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God…!!”

Oh, but then in Philippians 1:19-21 Paul was so anointed in the Spirit as he wrote these words: “For I know that this [imprisonment] will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now Christ also will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

It was Francis de Sale who described the true eternal blessing in Christ as follows: “the mind’s loving, unmixed, permanent attention to the things of God.”

But if you haven’t been seeking after God Himself, be assured that God is in hot pursuit after you. You may, even at this very moment, not be a person who has anchored himself/herself to an inexhaustible search after Him, but be aware He’s ‘smelled’ you and is tracking after you. God’s search is unceasing to make every person a ‘child of the King,’ a son/daughter in the family of God, a servant like Jesus who doesn’t appear to be served, but to serve and give one’s life for the many.

CHAPTER NINE

“FISHING FOR MEN OR A FATALISTIC MIND-CLOSURE TO MEN?”

As I began to write this chapter, I had received word of the death of a son of a life-long friend. The man who died was about the same age as my son, Scott, who is 55 years of age. He had been on a trip to Alaska with his parents and his own family. They had flown in from Alaska to Atlanta and were taking a shuttle service to Chattanooga, Tennessee, near their home in Cleveland to get their cars. They didn’t get out of Atlanta before Scott Hicks collapsed with a fatal heart attack. My friend who informed me of his death said that Scott was sharing his faith in Christ with a man who was traveling on their shuttle – and he said, “Scott shares his faith in Christ with everyone he encounters. This man who had experienced saving grace and mercy and had become a new creation was relentless about sharing the faith, making disciples, and honoring Christ Jesus his Lord and Savior!”

I could not help but think: “What if every true believer understood their ‘calling’ to share the faith with others? What would happen worldwide? But also what has been the result of a ‘fatalistic mind-closure to men’? I’m convinced that as an American citizen of 77 years of age that I have witnessed a down-turn of Christians sharing the faith! I’m also convinced that most pastors and churches have not even begun to equip their people to share their faith with others. In Matthew 4:17-20 Jesus shared His heart with the lost and encouraged His disciples to be “fishers of men.” From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

There came a ‘moment’ after Creation that God looked upon the men He created and said, Genesis 6:6, “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart.” One translation says God was grieved and His heart was filled with pain. But then there was a Noah who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Noah walked with God.” And ark-building began to rescue the drowning in the sea of their sins!

Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was just as much God as if He were not man, and just as much man as if He were not God. And, facing the Cross, Jesus prayed in Matthew 26:39, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as You will,” because He knew and understood the suffering of the Cross was the only hope of man’s redemption, so Jesus suffered, bled, and died in behalf of YOU and me. And that is not a fatalistic mind-closure to men! The ‘spirits’ of fallen men oppose the need of man’s redemption and their response in repentance and faith, but in I John 4:1 we read, “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if whether they are from God,” and FROM GOD there always has been and always will be the call to touch the lost with the message of grace, mercy, and love.

God’s inexhaustible grace and love at the Cross in Christ’s shed blood is indelibly placed at every turn that men need to be saved. Why should any true disciple ever question the equipping of the saints to share their faith with others? Could it be even possible that many who “profess” faith in Christ are really ‘believers’ who are buried in a casket of a false disciple? And I can only ask, ‘Is your Christ-spirituality a consciousness of the need of ‘witnessing to others’ or an ‘illusion’ that makes no sense of responsibility in you and through you?

In Acts 1:8 our Holy Word of God tells us, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESSES TO ME in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” After Jesus’ death and resurrection, we read in Matthew 28:16-20 about “The Great Commission.” It says: Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen!

Have YOU announced man’s ‘pardon’ by God Himself? The following story entitled “The Strange Case of George Wilson” came from an American Baptist Association Trust: “ In 1829 two men – Wilson and Porter – were convicted of robbing the United States mails, and sentenced to death by hanging. Three weeks before the time set for Wilson’s execution, he was pardoned by President Andrew Jackson…Strangely enough, Wilson refused the pardon. The case went to the Supreme Court (United States vs. George Wilson, 7 Peters’ Report, page 150) and the court finally handed down its decision: “A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it is rejected, we have discovered no power in this court to force it upon him.”…Most people would agree that Wilson was a fool for refusing to accept a pardon. Yet these same people daily reject the pardon which God has provided for them…Because God is just, He must punish our sins, But because God is merciful, He Himself suffered the awful penalty when Jesus Christ, His Son, suffered all the wrath of God against our sins as He died on the cross of Calvary. ‘For God os loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)…Your pardon has been signed by God Himself. Now all you need to do is accept it by telling God in prayer that you are guilty of sin; ask Him to pardon you, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). At the same time you call upon God trust Him to pardon you for Christ’s sake. Do this and God will deliver the evidence of your pardon and you will be released from the prison of sin. Unless you accept the pardon, you remain condemned. “He that believes not is condemned already.” (John 3:18). Wilson’s was a strange case. But then, Wilson was a fool.”

A pardon? A release from sin’s penalty and sin’s power and sin’s perversions? Men set free to be and become all God intends for them to be “in Him”? Adopted out of the devil’s dominance into the true liberty and freedom as sons and daughters of God? No debt due to sin? No bankruptcy due to one’s old nature? No brokenness and sadness due to separation from God? And you don’t have “good news” to share?

In Psalm 32:1-7 David wrote about “the joy of forgiveness,” but you “in Christ” don’t have a song to sing? “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” [Have you heard God singing over you lately?]. [Have you been singing to Him?].

And in Psalm 33:3 David, yes, spoke of “singing to Him a new song” that speaks of awe-struck wonder because of God’s “fashioning of the heart”! [I remind you that in I Samuel 16:7 the Lord said to Samuel, “…for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”] “The Fashioning of the Heart?” Psalm 33:15 says, “He [God] fashions their hearts individually…” In Ezekial 36:26 we read of God granting to repentant men and women, yes, and boys and girls, “a new heart.” In Hebrews 10:12 and verses 19-23 we read: “But this Man, [Jesus Christ], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…Verses 19-23, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

“The Fashioning of the Heart?” Acts 16:14 speaks of Lydia whom “the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul,” but you’re unsure the Lord will do the same through your witness to others?

“The Fashioning of the Heart?” Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts…”Do you truly understand your role in touching your world around you with His mercy, grace, and love? Your family, your friends, your city, your state, and nation, needs to know they are loved by God, loosed by God to His ultimate intention, led by God, lifted by God, and liberated into the fullness of Holy Presence in them from ‘doing’ to ‘being.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” And you don’t have a word to share?

What about a “new song” to sing about our names written down in glory? Do you understand “new wine”? A “new covenant”? Could your lost and “alienated from God’ friends need a “new spirit”? Our Lord promises a “new heart”! Even “new, ripened fruit” can be your inheritance! Are “new tongues” a worthy consideration for a foul-mouthed old man? Don’t you believe the promise of a “new man” births hope in the hopeless? Oh, yes, there is a “new and living way”! SHOW THEM, TELL THEM, ASSURE THEM OF THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD’S PROMISES! In a hellish earth, hellish life, hellish home and family environment, a hellish existence, you don’t have a word about “a new and living way?”

Let the fresh, vibrant, life-giving words of Paul encourage you as you, in convicting fashion, receive what Romans 6:4 tells us: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” How encouraging is Romans 7:4 to you? “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” And didn’t Paul say in Romans 7:5 that men, when in the flesh [old sin nature], that “the sinful passions…were at work…to bear fruit to death”? But verse 6 tells us that once, having died to what we were held by, NOW we’re at work to “serve in the newness of the Spirit…”?

Could we, should we, be discerning right now that our new-found walk of faith is to be a walk under the control; and leadership of the Holy Spirit? As Paul wrote the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3:2-6, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Is it possible that as a new believer in Christ or an aged believer that you have sensed the great need of being empowered by the Holy Spirit to become a valid, victorious witness of saving grace and you, right now, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit that you might truly be a vibrant witness?

Then, in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 Paul wrote: “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech – unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing [or fading] away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

OH, and then look carefully at 2 Corinthians 4:1-6! “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Did the last verse we read say that God Himself commanded ‘light to shine out of darkness, shining in our hearts TO GIVE THE LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.’? Did Jesus Himself say anything different from what we’ve just read? In Matthew 5:14-16 our Lord said: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

But again in 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul said, “we have this TREASURE in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” The “treasure” of Christ’s living presence in us, the “treasure” of redemptive truth, the “treasure” of God’s desire that through us, verse 11, “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” AND WE TELL OTHERS! Do all that we tell about salvation believe, receive, and rest themselves in Christ? Jesus said in John 8:47, “He who is of God hears God’s words…” You can be at peace that if you faithfully share gospel truth you’ve done your part.

Prior to His ascension after His resurrection disciples asked Him, [Acts 1:6-8], “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?” And Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Oh, and then Jesus was taken up, leaving the sharing of saving grace and faith to His earthly disciples!

In chapter two of Acts the Holy Spirit came! And “this” became “that” which was spoken by Joel the prophet: Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit bin those days.”

And what an encouraging, uplifting, anointed word that we find in Acts 2:25 from David, “I foresaw the Lord always before My face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.” YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF WITNESSING TO OTHERS – THE LORD is at YOUR right hand! Plus, what was instilled within Peter must be instilled in every new disciple! Acts 2:36-40, 47 says: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Verse 47, “…And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

It is vital for you as a born-again believer to examine carefully every situational opportunity that you see the early disciples experiencing. Too often God’s people re uninformed or have overlooked situational witnessing! If, as Peter Scazzero said in his book, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,” [p.109], that “Unhealed wounds open us up to habitual sin against God and others,” how many do you reach out to who exemplify “unhealed wounds” and “unhealed hearts” and “unhealed marriages” and “unhealed relationships” or even “unhealed churches”?

As you examine Acts 3, the very second verse shows us about “a certain man lame from his mother’s womb.” Remember that Acts 1:1 informs us “…of all that Jesus began both TO DO and TO TEACH…!” And the early disciples learned His lessons and examples fully! Have you?

I remember being in a huge government housing project in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, for a street meeting with Pastor Anand of Apostolic Christian Assembly. The musicians had sung, I had preached, and then I extended an invitation for salvation, for deliverance, or for our Lord’s healing grace. Before me a father and mother came carrying their 8 year old son who’d never walked since birth, in a blanket, laid him down at my feet, and then asked, “Can your Lord and Savior heal our son?” Anand and I laid hands on the boy and prayed, and then said, “Arise, young man, and walk!” Praise God, he did rise and walk.” I’ll never forget his toothpick legs, but then saw, through prayer, God giving him strong legs!

And if that wasn’t a ‘shocker’ enough for us, the very next night another father and mother carried to the front their 11-12 year old son who also had never walked! The same Jesus of the night before touched this young man and gave him new legs – and the family or families of both sons came to salvation in our Lord!

I like to call true disciples “The Appointed and Anointed” of the Lord! In Matthew 10:1 we read: “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirit, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of disease.” Jesus then said in verses 7-8, “And as you go, preach, [witness, testify], saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE.” [But do you not have anything to share? Maybe it’s time to “be born again!”]

One of the most heart-wrenching stories I’ve ever read about was a Miss Havisham from the novel Charles Dickenson wrote about called “Great Expectations.” The story is about this daughter of a very wealthy family who, on her supposed wedding day, received a letter at 8:40a.m. that her fiancé who was to become her husband that day informed her he’d not be there for the wedding. The story is that exactly at 8:40a.m having received this sad word, stopped every clock in her home at the time of the letter’s arrival, deciding to spend the rest of her life in her wedding dress, plus wearing only one shoe since that was all she’d put on, living that way into old age, choosing to live an unfulfilled past even to her death!

Is it possible some Christians “assume” they are married to Christ yet never bear children of faith? They talk about their wedding to the Lord but never consummated the marriage with holy vows and a holy heart like Him to touch their world with grace. Do you think her story, your story, might resemble Judas? Was his life a life of “wasted opportunities”?

For some, what I’ve just written is so true, but at the same time I would say, “it’s not true of all disciples.” In Matthew 10:16-24 and in verses 27-28 we hear Jesus speaking to us and warning us that witnessing is not enjoying a “nice piece of cake,” but, yes, trouble! Jesus said: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. Verse 27-28, Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” And that’s JESUS SPEAKING TO US!!

There is a serious word in Matthew 10:32-33! Jesus says: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Don’t you find Jesus’ words convicting and challenging? I don’t believe Jesus is speaking only of ‘public confession’ but also private and personal declaration of one’s need of the Savior and Lord of life, sharing with those around you of His love, grace, and mercy, that it was for them also that Jesus died on the Cross, and if they were the only person on the face of the whole earth, what He did on the Cross He would and did it just for them.

Jesus’ words to alienated sinners? Matthew 11:28-30 tells us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Do you know anyone who “burns the candle at both ends” or “labors and is heavy ladened”? Do you know anyone who needs Christ’s ‘yoke’, yes, needs to be broken from their selfish, uncontrolled, untrained life? Do you know anyone who needs His rest for their souls? Then share the love of Jesus, share what He’s done for you, share what He’s done for your family and friends and classmates or business associates! Fishers of men or a fatalistic mind closure to men and their spiritual needs?

Christless lives are eternal disasters regardless of their earthly successes or lack of them. Christless families living faithless lives are void, yes, even destitute of the Lord’s eternal promises. It breaks my heart to say it, but Christless professors, so wise in the world’s ways, are ‘train-wrecks’ when it comes to eternal relationships and values and true wisdom of the One who made them. I don’t know of a sadder state of life than for one to be immersed in the non-reality for them of faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

If “practicing the presence of God” is vital for true spiritual health in the life of a believer, what about “practicing the presence of needy people” concerning their need of Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior? I’m personally convinced and appalled that too many pastors and churches in America have no awareness at all of what I call “intentional evangelism.” That means evangelism is intentional in all I am, in all I do, even expecting that every day, in all I do, He is reaching out through me to others who need His saving grace and mercy.

When it comes to “fishing for men”, have you considered prayer as a mighty war weapon for who and how we reach the lost, the unsaved, the deceived, the desperate ones who have no hope? In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul said: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” DO YOU PRAY FOR THE LOST?

Consider also your own life situations! Is every event, every good or bad experience just happen-chance – or is God up to something good through you? What did Paul say in Philippians 1:12? “But I want you to know, brethren that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel…”

Will you be a servant of Christ who exalts, magnifies, expresses, the beauty and blessing of His saving grace and redemptive acts and glorious work of lost mankind’s salvation? In closing this chapter, look prayerfully at Acts 3:6-9! Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them – walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.”

CHAPTER TEN

“IS CONTINUAL SIN ‘OK’ FOR A NEW OR TRUE BELIEVER?”

I have no hesitation in saying to you that I know this chapter will cause a major ‘fuss’ with some because I grew up in a denomination that says one cannot do anything but sin until he/she goes to Heaven! That, I believe, is a perversion of biblical truth! I sometimes wonder if some ‘devotees’ to the Word of God are simply ‘kindergarten children’ who refuse to grow up, mature, and accept the Word of God for what God says or find it acceptable to claim that Word without its application to their own lives because they are comfortable with a ‘compromised’ profession of faith!

What did Paul say in Romans 6:1-3? “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we WHO DIED TO SIN live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” What an awesome, convicting, life-changing or life-condemning question!

Oh, but it gets better and better! Look at Romans 6:5-7! “For if we have been united together (us and Jesus) in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should NO LONGER BE SLAVES OF SIN. For he [that’s you or me] who has died has been freed from sin.”

These are some of the most liberating words you’ll ever find in God’s Word because you accept Truth that because of Jesus’ death on the Cross and your co-crucifixion with Him you are now no longer a slave to sin and your old sin nature but a transformed slave chained to God through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross!

Look at Romans 6:17-18 and verse 22 and rejoice evermore! “But God be thanked that though YOU WERE SLAVES OF SIN, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Verse 22, But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

John Piper said in his book “A Godward Life,” [p.161], “The old slave master [Satan] pays wages, but God gives gifts,” and then quoted Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Do you understand the ‘mind-set’ that many professing disciples operate by? “The wages of sin is death,” therefore many ‘strive’ to be overcomers of that which Jesus paid the ultimate price for while the revelation of God’s Word tells us, Romans 6:12-13, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” Presenting one’s self to God on the merits of Christ alone, not one’s best effort!!

Are you truly, truly fully aware of 2 Corinthians 5:21? It says: “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” What’s your choice: ‘sinner separate from God or saint set apart as the righteousness of God?’ Oswald Chambers hit a historic ‘home-run’ when he wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.224], “That Christ died for me, therefore I go scot free, is never taught in the New Testament. What IS taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” [not- He died my death], and that by identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have imparted to me His very righteousness. The substitution taught in the New Testament is twofold: ‘He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.’ It is not Christ FOR ME unless I am determined to have Christ formed IN me.” Amen? And that is the true battle-front in every believer’s life: Is it me or Jesus? Is it that I want the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ of me or my conformity to the image of Christ? Am I a ‘slave of sin’ or the servant of the Most High and Holy God? Will I be a victim of continuous sin or a victor because of the finished work of Christ at the Cross and His historic resurrection Presence in me and through me?

I do want you to KNOW without hesitation that the evidence of a spiritually born, new life in Christ, is that you are one man/woman. Boy/girl, who is passionate about Christ having His way in and through you, and His image becomes more real and clear through you! I know it’s a process, a continual activity of choosing the ‘Spirit-Life in Christ’ over the ‘old man, the flesh,’ but I have a biblical promise that never changes: I John 1:7, “If we [I, you] walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The evidence? Didn’t Paul say that one should “examine himself/herself whether he/she is IN THE FAITH”? And this is so true when one hears Jesus say in Luke 12:35-47 the following: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you, that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But KNOW THIS, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore YOU ALSO BE READY, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, AND WILL CUT HIM IN PIECES [in two] AND APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS.”

What did Paul say to young Titus as he wrote to him in Titus 2:11-14? “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

And when you read these verses, do you sense ‘performance’ or one’s position in Christ, that one ‘grinds’ out the faith or is graced, that one earns or is empowered and enveloped in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ? In Romans 5:17 Paul said: “For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

Continual sin? Is that possible if my “life is hidden with Christ in God”? Continual sin? ‘OK’ for a new or true believer? Continual sin? Some say, “What God says is for the future – it really can’t be for the present because I have a love for the flesh, the fallen part of me, and, yes, for my sin, but I know God understands, overlooks, and even excuses what I can’t help but do!” Really? Continual sin? “Well, the ‘gift of righteousness is a future reward, not a present reality.” Oh, really?

If the last paragraph is true, then it means that God’s verdict about our sin that was issued in the very Cross of Christ was a great injustice to the very name of Christ, but it is not! Jesus took your sin and mine, your old sin nature and mine, and we “died” with Him, in Him, and through Him!

What is Hebrews 10:14 all about? The author wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” The author had already said in verse 10, “By that will we have been sanctified THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL.” Glory!

The blood ATONEMENT of Jesus Christ is not to give us a license to sin but our liberation from the tendency to sin! But, when we do sin, because our Savior promised and sent the Holy Spirit to inhabit ALL believers (Romans 8:9), the Spirit will do what? In John 16:8 we read, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

What did Paul tell us in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10? “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

And ‘godly sorrow,’ birthed in us by the Holy Spirit abiding in every believer, arouses within us our failures, our falls, our fickleness, but also highlights God’s faithfulness in forgiveness, and continues to shape us in the very image and likeness of Jesus – conscious sorrow resulting in an appreciation of unconscious God-likeness!

Isaiah 32:13-15 gives us a picture of God’s people apart from the Holy Spirit but then what happens when there is yieldedness to the Spirit’s control. The prophet heard God speak: “On the land of My people will come up thorns and briers, yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city; Because the palaces will be forsaken, the bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become lairs forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks – Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest.” And then He said that the peace of God will reign.” Is that true in you?

Let me share several things that I believe are of utmost importance for the true believer in overcoming ‘continual sin’!! Come with me to I Corinthians 9:27! There, Paul said: “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

One translation says: “I buffet my body and make it my slave…” I believe Paul is telling us we are not to be blind to our progress or lack of it in being conformed to the image of Christ! If you haven’t learned it as yet, you need to know there is a spiritual war going on – and you do have a part in this!

In I Corinthians 10:1-14 we read: “Moreover, brethren I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the clod and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ,. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

If Christ is your Rock, and you stand on Him, and keep on standing on Him, you are one who understands your completeness in Christ, and that there is a transition of identity – we’re not slaves to sin any longer but sons of God! But, it’s true, sometimes in our journeys as followers of Christ Jesus we do have to have ‘wake-up calls’! In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul wrote to each of us today. He said: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is perfected in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

In “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Vol. 19, pps.369-370], Spurgeon preached: “I am quite sure that some people think themselves very strong, and are not so. Their proud consciousness of fancied strength is the indication of a terrible weakness. We have among us ‘certain persons who think that they can do all that is needful for their own salvation’ whenever they please to do so. They can perform all sorts of good works, or at least quite enough to carry them to heaven. Their first idea is that they are to be saved by their own doings; and they really expect to be saved. They may admit that they have a few faults and flaws in their character; but these are so trifling as to be hardly worth mentioning, And God Almighty is too merciful to be very particular. Their lives have been excellent, their tempers amiable, their manners courteous, their spirit generous, and they quite believe that by keeping on at the same pace they will win the prize: if they do not, who will? The ship of their character is in fine condition; they have no leaks which the pumps cannot keep down; their sails are not rent, and they hope to sail into the haven of peace with a glorious cargo of merit, having an abundant entrance, and hearing a ‘Well done!” Ah, my friend! That consciousness of legal strength is a mere delusion, and it will have to be taken out of you. There is no going to heaven that way – by self or by works of self. Your error is a common one, but it is fatal. I have seen many epitaphs of persons, placed by mistaken kindness of friends upon their tombstones, which I felt sure would have been sufficient to shut them out of heaven if they had been true. These departed worthies do not appear to have been sinners at all; their virtues were superlative, their faults non-existent. Such wonderful people would appear from their epitaphs to have flown up to the gates of heaven upon the wings of their own virtues, and to have entered therefore without a passport of mercy, as burgesses by their own right of the New Jerusalem. I wonder how they would behave themselves in heaven, if they were really admitted there! All the rest are singing, ‘We have washed our robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” but these needed no washing, and so they would be likely to strike up a little song by themselves, and sing ‘Our robes never needed washing; we kept them as white as snow.’ What discord that would create in the music of the skies! What a division of character and feeling would be found among the celestials! I cannot see how there could be any harmony of sentiment among sinners saved by grace and righteous ones who owed nothing to mercy, nothing to the atoning sacrifice.” Oh, how truly spoken!

Then, could one be ignorant of the danger of “drifting away”, of “neglecting so great a salvation,” or ignoring the witness of God within or the gifts of the Holy Spirit”? That’s Hebrews 2:1-4! “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”

When “self” begins to be supreme, drifting away becomes the end result! When “neglect” becomes a practice, the sea of identity “in Christ” becomes cloudy! When “Spirit-led” becomes weird, then true discipleship has begun to wane! And that leads one to:

TAKING ONE’S EYES OFF OF JESUS OUR LORD AND BEING LED AWAY FROM SPIRITUAL FREEDOM TO DEMONIC BONDAGE! Look with me at Hebrews 2:9-10, 14-15, “ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings…Verses 14-15, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Subject to bondage?

Jesus even said: “In the world you will have tribulation,” but too many put on “rose-colored glasses” seeing ‘peace and safety’ when there is none! Didn’t we read “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” but you hear only that ‘peace and safety’ song?

One last thing I want to emphasize in this chapter: Submission to Christ, our Lord and Savior, is not an open door to disobedience which breeds hardness of heart through deceitfulness of sin!! Hebrews 3:12-14 says: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

And that doesn’t put the fear of God in you? Look at Hebrews 3:18-19! “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

I urge you in the days ahead to major on 2 Corinthians 12:7-10! “for when I am weak, then I am strong”? Why? How? That’s eyes off self and eyes only on the Christ within! That’s eyes set, not on your weakness, but on God’s amazing strength and never-failing power! That’s a commissioned journey, not in yourself, but in His ever-abiding presence! That’s an awareness of hopelessness in one’s flesh but eternal hope in God’s Spirit! That’s faith, not in earthly dry wells, but faith in His eternal supply that never runs dry! That’s not awareness of who I am, but availability to ALL GOD IS – always has been, always will be! Amen? It’s not only our consciousness to all God is, but our complete surrender to His Sovereignty and His saving and sure ways!

Is your pilgrimage in Christ one of drudgery, duty, dejection, distraction, or is it discipline, dependence, discernment, destiny, and delight? Don’t forget Psalm 1:1-2! “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates days and night.” Is that your testimony?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“IS ‘ALL STRESSED OUT’ THE EVIDENCE OF A SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE?”

My wife, Sue, and I flew into Utah with her sister, Amy, and her husband, Joe Rodgers, to visit our son, Stan, and his wife Leann, and their daughter Katie, and their young families, Mr. & Mrs. Zach Fisher and Mr. & Mrs. Ben Fisher. What a delight! We flew in August 3, 2013, and on August 5 I was reading the news of “USA TODAY”. On the very front page was an article entitled “All Stressed Out?’ with a sub-title: ‘Buy some peace.’ It said, “Cloaked in anxiety, our 24/7 on-the-go nation produces stress-buckets. And, of course, one person’s angst is another person’s business opportunity.”

Then the article introduced Deepak Chopra (?) who said that he never feels stress, because he’s introduced his “Dream Weaver” ‘to aid relaxation, meditation, sleep.’ It’s a business idea – and he’ll probably make a small or big fortune that has absolutely nothing to do with “the peace that passes all understanding.”

In the article Ann Mack stated that “we’re entering the dawn of the super-stress era,” then stated, “since it’s become a cost issue and serious medical concern, you’ll see more efforts to prevent or reduce it. “ The article stated further: “Little wonder in a nation that could be the world’s poster child for stress. Last year, some 7 in 10 Americans said they regularly suffered physical symptoms due to stress, and 67% said they regularly experienced psychological symptoms because of it, reports the American Psychological Association. In a still-recovering economy, it’s no surprise that the top three causes of stress last year were related to money, work, and the economy, reports the APA.” David Ballard then said, “We’re just not very good at dealing with stress.” So, welcome Deepak Chopra’s Dream Machine! Really?

“Buy some peace”? You do understand that there are multiple ways to find a temporary, false, “never feel stress” peace that has nothing to do with the peace with God, the peace of God, or “the peace that passes all understanding” through Christ Jesus!

Thomas Merton has written in his “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” [New York: Doubleday, 1968, p.86], “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence…activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence…It kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”

Do you recognize or even doubt that “stress” is not good, that “stress” is an evidence of absence of the Spirit and Word of God in one’s life? If “stress” is real, and it is, would we even dare consider that God Himself called a ‘Sabbath Rest’ as very good, Genesis 1:31, but some around you, maybe even yourself, truly believe “burning the candle at both ends” is not harmful but holy? I’m afraid for some, I DON’T AGREE!

In Peter Scazzero’s book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,” [p.170], Peter said: “On every Sabbath, we experience a sampling of something greater that awaits us. Our short earthly lives are put in perspective as we look forward to the day when God’s kingdom will come in all its fullness and we will enter an eternal Sabbath feast in God’s perfect presence. We will taste His splendor, beauty, greatness, excellence, and glory far beyond anything we ever experienced or dreamed.”

What does Exodus 20:8-11 tell us? “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” So… on Sunday you just do as you please, and ignore God’s holy day? No wonder you’re “stressed out”!

Do you believe that Holy Sovereign God knows us better than we know ourselves, and that His Word about the “Sabbath Rest” is still an absolute essential in our spiritual, even physical pilgrimage? I’m sure it’s why7 David said in Psalm 84:5, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, O God.”

Angelo Patri, in “Redbook,” wrote: “Spiritual power is a hidden power, locked in the silence of the soul. We cannot force it to come at command o0f will. But when in extremity our strength is as water, our will as the sighing of the wind, when we yield all physical being and lean hard on the spiritual strength within us, the soul’s strength rises to assure us as the sun rises over the rim of night…This spiritual strength is man’s inheritance, the eternal power granted him at Creation. It is God’s breath within him. On that strength we can go forward; we can take whatever comes and know it is well with us always.”

What’s the title of this chapter? “Is ‘All Stressed Out’ The Evidence of a Spirit-Filled Life?” I don’t think so! The wiseman of Proverbs wrote in Proverbs 25:28, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.” No walls of protection in one’s life breeds “all stressed out”! Earlier, in Proverbs 16:32, the author wrote: “He who is slow to anger is better than the might, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”

Could ‘all stressed out’ be true description of one who is “heavy ladened”?” In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said: “Come to Me, all you who labor, and are heavy ladened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The word ‘laden’ is a Greek word for ‘over-burdened’ or like a cargo ship that sinks because it was over-loaded! It also means ‘loaded up with spiritual anxiety.’

I hope and pray that you saw in the Matthew 11 passage the words “all you…” and “all you who are heavy laden…” and you latch on to Jesus words: “I will give you rest…” Do you understand that that is a divine promise from the lips of Jesus our Lord and Savior and Master of our lives? Then Jesus said: “Come…take…learn…and LEAN” on Him! But I also see and sense in another word of our Lord that when we come, take, learn, and lean on Him that He “gives” – and it’s not only a “rest” FROM one’s heavy load but a “rest” IN CHRIST HIMSELF!

Oh, but then our Lord said: “Take My yoke upon you…” which tells me my rest is not from inactivity but a walk, a work, a willingness to be “yoked” to the Master-Bull who “breaks” me from walking alone in my journey of faith to walking in step with my Lord and Savior!

Do you realize how easily frustration with your circumstances and fretfulness in your situation can disable a fruitful walk with your Lord? Shutting down is the dominance of our flesh, and, yes, even demonic activity to feed off of our weariness, our wilting, our warped spiritual activity and identity ‘in Christ’! But the question of the moment is: HOW HAVE I ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN? I’ll look with you at seven sources or roots:

FIRST, “STRESS” COMES BECAUSE OF A TROUBLED MIND. In 2 Thessalonians 2:2 Paul speaks of “not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or word or letter, as if from us…” which in context related to the ‘rumor’ that the ‘day of Christ had come.’ But the reality is that many are “soon shaken in mind or troubled” about many, various, different situations and circumstances – and it births various forms of even sickness: emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual!

To Titus Paul wrote: [Titus 1:15]. “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Do you understand “vainly puffed up by [one’s] fleshly mind”? And if pride goes before a fall, maybe one needs to examine his/her fleshly mind activities!

Paul gives us all valuable words of wisdom when in Philippians 2:5-11 he wrote: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

A spiritual mind-set is extremely important, I believe, to every day “set your Mind” in direction to, dependence upon, and devotion set to honor the Lord today, through you, His honor, glory, and praise! If that is an unimportant spiritual discipline, then it’s easy to experience a shriveled soul, a parched devotion, a flooded day of preoccupation with one’s “feelings”: rather than full faith and fellowship, and, yes, even distractions of eye-set and mind-set!

In Colossians 3:1-2 Paul challenges us all: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” How challenging is that?

SECOND, “STRESS” COMES BECAUSE OF A DIVIDED HEART. In Psalm 81 there is a sad but deliberate admonition from God concerning His own people Israel. God Said: Psalm 81:8-16, “Hear, O MY people, and I will admonish you! O Israel, if you will listen to Me! There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied them.”

The passionate prophet, Hosea, heard God speak from a broken heart when He looked upon His own people, Israel. In Hosea 9:10-12 we read: “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, and separated themselves to that shame; they became an abomination like the thing they loved. As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird – no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception! Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!”

And, then, in Hosea 10:2-4, we read why it happened then and why it happens now: “Their heart is divided; now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; He will ruin their sacred pillars. For now they say, “We have no king, because we did not fear the Lord. And as for a king, what would he do for us?” They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.”

The word ‘divided’ means “divided in loyalty”. I don’t know how you read spiritual times and seasons in church life in your nation, but “divided in loyalty” is, sadly, an ‘in-time’ evaluation of church life in America – too many ‘Christians’ on Sunday would rather ‘play’ than pray, wilt, rather than worship, gad about rather than give God the sacrifice of Praise, even when God says: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy!” DIVIDED HEARTS!

THIRD, “STRESS” COMES THROUGH AN OVERLOADED STYLE OF LIFE. And that can be because of one’s true devotion to Gods and the opposition that arises against devoted followers of God. When Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation,” the flood of tribulation can be overwhelming at times. In Psalm 69 David cried out to God with an urgent plea for God’s help in David’s time of trouble! Psalm 69:1-18 says: “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overwhelm me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully; though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You. Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. And do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies.”

FOURTH, “STRESS” COMES BECAUSE OF A SPLIT FAMILY OR A FAMILY SO ENGROSSED IN ITSELF THEY STIFLE OUT GOD, AND WHAT THEY CONSIDER “GOOD” FOR THEMSELVES BECOMES A GRAVE OF THE HEART.

In Micah 6:8 the Word says, our Lord speaking, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, [or lovingkindness] and to walk humbly with your God?” It doesn’t get any better! In Micah 7:6 it says: “For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.” Could that be sons against a father or a father against his own flesh and blood?

It was Horace Bushnell who once wrote: “A house without a roof would scarcely be a more different home, than a family unsheltered by God’s friendship, and the sense of being always rested in His providential care and guidance.”

In Titus 1:11 Paul wrote: “…whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain…”Whether an unstable or stable family, both are subject at times to false teachers who would undermine faith, trust, obedience in families.

No doubt this is why Peter, in Acts 3:25-26, wrote or spoke the following, yes, to ‘stressed out,’ stifled, starving families today: “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you, first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning every one of you from your iniquities.”

We know God established family life in order that families might “be fruitful and multiply,” that man might, together with mate and children, experience and enjoy God’s blessing, to picture up close Jesus and His precious body of believers, to instill parenting as a tool to, yes, reveal the very heart of God, to reveal mutual dependence upon Him whether parent or child, to establish, train, mature, and bring children up “in the training and admonition of the Lord,” and to exhibit in small form the large, very Body of Christ Jesus!

In America, and no doubt the rest of our known world, there is an assault on Godly family life. There is prevalent, right now, an infectious spiritual disease that is out to decay, disintegrate, and deplete Godly husbands and wives and Godly fathers and mothers. “The thief is out to kill and destroy marriage and family.” Yes, even in America, right now, there are those in governmental powers nationally who believe their ‘state’ powers are more sacred than families – they want to rule over, control, and direct6 your children to trust them more than they trust God or parents! And families are being split at a rapid pace!

FIFTH, “STRESS” COMES BECAUSE OF A CORRODED LOYALTY: I pray that I can say this without being harsh, super critical, or mean-spirited, but a corroded loyalty to our Lord is the under-pinning of corroded loyalty in the home and family. In fact, a corroded loyalty, I believe, is because of ‘false liberty’ one has professed in a Christian marriage ceremony as one who desires to honor Christ, and has ‘professed’ to a church congregation that same ‘false liberty’; therefore, loyalty to the Body of Christ quickly or slowly deteriorates.

A test of loyalty always emerges in a disciple’s life, in a pastor’s life, in a church’s life and relationships and responsibilities, in a family’s close relationship and responsibility, and, yes, even in a business! And when corroded loyalty has run its course, “stress” breaks out like an infectious disease! Loyalty is because of love, not love because of loyalty. Jesus proved His love for us in that while we were still sinners He died for us!

Corroded loyalty is evidence one has forgotten “crucified with Christ”! In Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.228], he wrote after quoting Galatians 2:20, “These words mean the breaking of my independence with my own hand and surrendering to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me3 up to the point 365 times a year, but He cannot put me through it. It6 means breaking the husk of my individual independence of God, and the emancipating of my personality into oneness with Himself, not for my own ideas, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus.” Tell me! In you, right now, this very moment – are you standing in absolute loyalty to Jesus or has your loyalty been corroded?

SIXTH, “STRESS” IS BIRTHED BY THE SEED OF A COMPROMISED ETHIC: In John 6:60-71 we read a heart-wrenching story of defection from Christ. It says: Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to Him by My Father.” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”

A safe description besides “a compromised ethic” would be “the internal assaults” on the Savior and His people. I don’t believe our Lord and Savior was ever overcome in any way by a compromised ethic or the internal assaults, but I assure you that there are numerous believers who’ve been overwhelmed by that “stress”! “Will you go away”? because of oppositional forces to your faith? “That’s a tough word, Jesus”! “That’s an offensive word, Lord”! “That’s exposing our prejudices, Master”! “That’s contradicting and compromising for us what we really think, Jesus”!

Have you ever heard an unbelieving husband berate his ‘sold-out’ wife for her devotion to her faith and church family – and see her begin to back off? Have you ever witnessed a “big boss” come down hard on a few employees for their “stand” concerning their Savior and see them go silent fearing a loss of their jobs? Have you ever sat through a condemning session by a university professor that threatens devotees of our Lord – and they become like dunces in a corner of the class? Have you seen the end result of the ‘party’ class of young people to side with godless fraternity brothers or sisters and become totally delinquent as to a stand for the eternal faith?

Deceivers, denouncers, yes, demonstraters against biblical faith can call out that response of a compromised ethic, but at the same time some “feed” on trash and not the treasure of God’s revealed Word and they starve the soul – the bread of life is substituted for foul crumbs trying to survive on a spiritual starvation diet!

And, “God, help us”! a compromised ethic is often the end result of a poor choice of friends – some are swayed to evil rather than a biblical ethic by carelessly associating with immoral men, loose women, or lewd conversation that darkens not enlightens one’s conscience and convictions.

In “Mrs. Browning,” Elizabeth Barrett Browning, wrote: “The Soul Travailing,” [pps. 80-81], about the “stress” of ‘traveling vainly.’ She wrote: “Always! Always! Must this be? Rapid Soul from city gone, Dost thou carry inwardly What doth make the city’s moan?…Must this deep sigh of thine own Haunt thee with humanity? Green visioned banks that are too steep To be overbrowsed by the sheep,…May all sad thoughts adown you creep Without a shepherd? – mighty sea, Can we dwarf Thy magnitude, and fit it to our straightest mood?…O fair, fair Nature! Are we thus impotent and querulous Among thy workings glorious – Among Thy fullnesses that still Leave us vacant and defiled,…And wailing like a kissed child, Kissed softly against his will? God, God! – With a child’s voice I cry, Weak, sad, confidingly – God, God!…Thou knowest eyelids raised not always up Toward Thy love (as none of ours are) droop, As ours, over many a tear!…Thou knowest, though Thy universe is broad, Two little tears, suffice to cover all! – Thou knowest – Thou, who art so prodigal of beauty – we are oft but stricken deer, Expiring in the woods – that care for none Of those delightsome flowers they die upon!…O blissful mouth, which breathed the mournful breath We name our souls! (self-spoilt!) by that strong passion Which paled thee once with sighs – by that strong death Which made thee once unbreathing – from the wrack, Themselves have called around them, Call them back Toward Thee in continuous aspiring!…For here, O Lord, For here they traqvel vainly; vainly pass From city pavement to untrodden sward,…Where the lark finds her deep nest in the grass Unswept of its last dew! – Yea, very vain The greatest speed of all these souls of men, Unless they travel upward to Thy Throne! There sittest THOU, the satisfying ONE, With blood for our sins, and holy perfectings For all requirements – while th’ archangel, raising Toward Thy face his full ecstatic gazing, Forgets the rush and rapture of his wings!”

SEVENTH, “STRESS” ERUPTS IN THE VOLCANO OF A WOUNDED SPIRIT: In Proverbs 18:14 we read, “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?”

A broken spirit is one who has been exchanged at a loss for an impoverished spirit! There is nothing proud for one to brag about when a wounded spirit bankrupts one’s faith, one’s devotion, or one’s dependence upon God for healing grace in a time of trouble. Most, rather than looking up, are now looking in – and wounds birth an overwhelming attitude of “poor me”!

Grasp what Jesus was saying in Matthew 26:41 when He said: “Watch and pray, lest YOU enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I want to close this chapter with a letter I recently received from “Circuit Rider Ministries,: the support arm for Andy and Rebecca Brink’s on-going ministry of the Faith. Rebecca wrote THIS letter, yes, about “stress”. I called Andy and Rebecca and asked if I could print it in this chapter – they were glad to! Here it is: [Their address? PO Box 6241, Tyler, Texas, 75711 – phone #: 281 – 755 – 4030], and if you don’t know, their 7^th child will be birthed soon!! Are YOU ready? Rebecca wrote:

“Well, I would love to say that having another baby on the way has just been a breeze as if I have this thing down by now, but it just hasn’t quite worked out that way. There haven’t necessarily been any real complications, but man has it been hard not to sink into a major funk over the little things: -/ I have thought many times while unable to move due to utter exhaustion, “I am getting way too old for this!” I have been so easily frustrated when the kids are just being kids, and it’s not simple and easy…as if having kids is EVER simple and easy?? I think I literally spent the entire first trimester either wanting to throw up, cry, or just crawl in bed and sleep for weeks, hoping it would all magically be better when I woke up. I kinds though I had a legitimate “bone to pick” with God, that by number 7, I should have had some sort of right of passage into an easy pregnancy. I felt pretty justified in my way of thinking, until it was clear He was not being a team player. Well, then I was just plain mad! I sort of felt like I had been tricked into this deal, and the road ahead seemed impossibly long and weary. So I am going to be brutally honest here because this story has a GREAT ending!…

So, flash forward to my second trimester and you will find me in the depths of self-pity over how hard my life seemed, barely functioning from complete exhaustion (thinking FOR SURE something was wrong with me)…and only FIVE more months of pregnancy to go. Ouch! I finally had a chance to get away one weekend with some dear friends and spent the whole first day crying, wondering why this pregnancy still had to be so hard. I mean, the second trimester is supposed to be a breeze! I was desperately needing God’s grace, strength and encouragement, but was too mad at Him to ask for help[. Everyone that weekend was so sweet and attentive, but I just felt kinda numb inside. After dinner the first night, a dear friend spoke up and shared with the group something she had recently learned about Psalm 46:10. Well, some of you may remember from the last newsletter that that was the exact verse that had so impacted me the year before: “Be still and know that I am God.” My ears kinda perked up as she shared, and I began to try and let His Word penetrate my heart…

The word “still” in that verse literally translates as follows: “to cease from striving, to lay your hands down, letting God intervene in your situation without your interference.” As my friend was sharing this, I felt my heart beginning to soften. I was also struck that evening by a song that was shared. The words went something like this: “I’ll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered…all I am is Yours.” Those words began to chip away at the hardness of my heart. Later that night, in the privacy of my room, I began to lay it all out before the Lord and genuinely ask Him for His help. I realized that when Andy and I had “abandoned” ourselves once again to God’s sovereignty, trusting that this new life He had given us was a part of His plan, I had an expectation that God would be so pleased, that He was just going to lay out a bed of roses for me to relax on for the next nine months! (Mistake #1). I was horrified that things were actually harder on me than they had ever been before, and that there might be more difficulty and suffering ahead: – / All of a sudden, I could see my heart so clearly…I was willing to “abandon and surrender all” as long as there was no inconvenience to me. And as long as it all made me feel and look good, I was all in! But to think that you can step out in faith and choose to trust Him for something hard, and then suffer for it??? I wasn’t up for that one. (Mistake # 2), Then I remembered Daniel and his faithfulness and commitment to God, and what did he get for it? A trip to the lion’s den, with an unknown outcome! He had no idea that God had a great purpose in Daniel’s suffering, and was prepared to send His angels to protect him that fateful night, but Daniel sure didn’t know it. He had already calculated the cost to his life, but it was worth it to Daniel…I guess the real question is, was He worth it to me? Did I really want to give the Lord everything, so that I could sing the words to that song without feeling like a complete hypocrite? “I’ll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered, ALL I am is Yours!” Really? Even if it means more children? Even if it means less money because it has to stretch over so people? Even if it seems like I will NEVER get to enjoy a day of rest and relaxation without rearranging the entire universe so that all seven children are cared for in my absence? And for what? Why do I have to abandon and surrender anyway? My wrestling match with God!…

“Be still and know that I am God” continues to take on deeper meaning for me as I am learning to cease from striving when things get hard. For those of you that have had children, I am sure that at some point during childbirth classes, someone told you that you have to relax during contractions or they will be entirely ineffective, making your labor much more painful. Our midwife always has to gently remind me at the end when things are beyond tough, to let even my facial muscles relax throughout the pain so that my body can get it over with faster and easier. It sounds crazy, but it has totally worked! And I can tell you, in the very same way, that this pregnancy was so much harder than it had to be for me because I spent the first five months of it tense, frustrated and angry. When I literally chose to surrender, lay my will down, and trust that this whole thing is working for my good, my body began to respond well and it got so much easier! I went from not being able to get off the couch, to actually feeling pretty good and excited about the whole ordeal! Now did my troubles vanish? Not any more than the pain of childbirth, but there has been a special grace to get through it much easier! The incredible thing about the pain of childbirth is that when you think you cannot take it another second, that little life is right around the corner. And when that baby arrives, the pain is forgotten and totally worth it. What a perfect picture!” AMEN? THANK YOU, REBECCA BRINK!!

CHAPTER TWELVE

“IS ‘SALT’ AND ‘LIGHT’ THE REDEEMED ONE’S TRUE CALLING AND MISSION?”

As Matthew 5 opens, in Verse one, it speaks of “His disciples came to Him,” and then Jesus began to teach them. And I want you to contemplate so seriously the words that our Lord spoke to them and us in verses 11-16! “Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so the persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

In Luke 6:22-26 Dr. Luke gives us a broader picture of both true and false disciples when he wrote: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”

It would do you well to spend months in the four Gospels learning not only the Life of Christ but also the lives and ministries and troubles and heartaches of His true disciples. Did you catch, were you shocked by, was self-examination the result of reading our Lord’s words in Luke 6:26? “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”

This chapter is not to be an examination of false prophets but it does amplify for us His “true prophets” and the clear evidence describing them is “persecution for righteousness’ sake.” Has it not dawned on you yet a fallen world’s despising of the message of Christ Jesus? Our Lord and Savior became the ridicule, abuse, and slander of even the religious crowd of His day, but the identifying mark of false prophets was their extreme popularity!

Jesus never said that His disciples would find a world awaiting their ministries and rejoicing with them in what they had to say. In fact, in John 15:18-25 Jesus said: “If the world hates you, you know that i9t hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept Mt word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

And before our Lord’s betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane, He had gone aside to pray. John 17 is Jesus’ passionate prayer for His disciples right before a religious crowd in a diabolical frenzy with the soldiers arrested Him, bound Him, and led Him to Caiaphas who told the Jews that it was advantageous if one man should die for the people! John 17:6-19 tells us: To the Father our Lord prayed: “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name these whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

Hear me! Being true to Christ and His word and His mission means a world ‘out there’ will declare an unholy war against you, your family, your fellowship, and the more loyal you become in your commitment to Him alone the greater your opposition!

What did Jesus say in Matthew 5:11? “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” Was Paul on target when he told Timothy in his letter to him, 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” And, then, in Acts 5:41-42 we read: “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

But there is an encouraging word for all true believers in Romans 8:16-19! “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

Then, a heavenly word follows for us in Romans 8:31-39! “What then shall we say to these things? If God id for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now, FIRST QUESTION: “IS SALT THE REDEEMED ONE’S TRUE CALLING AND MISSION?” What do we read in Matthew 5:13 as Jesuis says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

And, I wonder, does ‘salt’ lose its saltiness when it’s never sprinkled on what it has the potential to preserve, influence, add a better taste to? Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says of ‘salt’: “To sprinkle, impregnate or season with salt, as to ‘salt’ fish, beef, or pork…To fill with salt between the timbers and planks, as a ship, for the preservation of the timber.” Do you see it? A ‘ship of life’ but no ‘salt’ as a preservative; a ‘ship of faith’ but no salty influences; a ‘ship of proclamation and testimony’ but no salt to capture the pure taste of our Lord and Savior!

Genesis 18:16-19:24 is an awesome lesson about the saltiness of God’s people. Sodom was spared for a time because of ‘salty’ Lot in its borders. And in Genesis 18:26 the Lord said: “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous men within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” Do you grasp why America hasn’t fallen yet? Oh, it’s been grievously wounded, it rests at a place of desperation this very moment, but God “SEES” the righteous few and withholds His judgment!

In Exodus 32 we find Moses looking upon “the people of God” and he saw them “unrestrained,” verse 25. Moses called out at the entrance of the camp: Verse 26, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side – come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.” But judgment fell upon 3000 of the people that day. More were ready to die, but Moses intervened! Look at Exodus 32:30-35, Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.” So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.”

That’s not the end of the story of salty grace and mercy! In James 1:27 we read: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” You do know how “spotted” your world is with immoral activity, in the lowering of biblical standards of holy behavior, in making dishonesty a public norm rather than a disgrace, of promoting impurity and ungodliness as an acceptable pattern of life, of advancing deliberate temptations to sin and violate even the laws of God, of wiping out, of tarnishing the righteous rather than the unholy, of promoting the unprincipled as leaders of our nations, of abusing the Ten Commandments as illogical, ‘off-the-wall’ suggestions, of disdaining biblical truth as that which helps ‘monkeys’ not people!

Oh, there’s more! Esther! What a story! Esther’s husband was the king, and Esther’s people came under the king’s judgment, and many were slaughtered! Mordecai came to Esther to inform her that she would not escape any more than all the other Jews, and she had to take a stand. Is that being ‘salt’?

Mordecai told Esther, [Esther 4:4], “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” And Esther responded: “If I perish, I perish.”

Does that speak to you and you in your nation, in your family, in your school, in your community and state, in the time of the lowering of standards, in the time of betrayal of marriage oaths, in the time of bosses or employees going under-handed betraying ethics, morals, laws, or truths of God’s Word? Does ‘salt’ preserve from corruption, deceit, incest, dirty jokes? Is a disciple of Jesus a “cleansing agent or remedy” for a people who are about to be destroyed by bad, yes, evil choices?

And I don’t know about you but I love “salt” on my summer-grown garden tomatoes! WOW! What a flavoring miracle! Do you hear it around your kitchen table? “Pass the salt, please.” And that’s to be a believer’s life, his/her testimony, even a gift of saltiness in the Spirit-realm to flavor a tasteless life!

I love what Oliver Wendell Holmes had to say once, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.” Preachers, pastors, parishioners aren’t to be offerers of ‘death’ but announcers of ‘life’, of ‘saltiness,’ of ‘blessings’ – not a dark, dead, dismal curse! A depressed world needs divine salt, divine joy, divine peace, and divine usefulness with an eternal taste – not a savorless life, or a savorless ministry, or a savorless marriage, or a savorless man! “God, help us!”

In “Tennyson’s Works,” Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote: [pps.3-4], “O God! My God! Have mercy now. I faint, I fall. Men say that Thou didst die for me, for such as me…Patient of ill, and death, and scorn, and that my sin was as a thorn Among the thorns that girt Your brow, Wounding Your soul. – That even now,…

In this extremist misery of ignorance, I should require a sign! And if a bolt of fire would rive the slumbrous summer noon While I do pray to Thee alone, Think my belief would stronger grow! Is not my human pride brought low? The boastings of my spirit still? The joy I had in my freewill All cold, and dead, and corpse-like grown?…

And what is left to me, but You, And faith in You? Men pass me by;- Christians with happy countenances – and children all seem full of You! And women smile with saint-like glances Like Your own mother’s when she bowed Above You, on that happy morn When angels spake to men aloud, And You and peace on earth were born…

Goodwill to me as well as all – I one of them; my brothers they; Brothers in Christ – a world of peace And confidence, day after day; And trust and hope till things should cease, And then one Heaven receives us all.”

That was written before 1892! Do you understand a redeemed man’s true calling and mission? ARE YOU SALT? But also a redeemed man’s true calling and mission is not only his spiritual saltiness but the reality of heaven’s LIGHT! Matthew 5:14-16 says: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

It is absolutely so amazing to me – I become awe-struck every time I read it or hear it when I know that Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” This is why in I Thessalonians 5:5 Paul said, “You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” He told the church at Ephesus, Ephesians 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

To the church at Galatia, Galatians 1:15-16, Paul said that it was the very “pleasure of God” to separate Paul from his mother’s womb, call him through His grace, for the purpose and plan of “revealing His Son in me,” and in you! If you haven’t heard, haven’t understood it, having received it as yet, your “old man” was “crucified with Christ; it is no longer I [YOU!} who lives, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God.” That’s Galatians 2:20-21!!

In Christ, you and I, children of faith, are vessels, containers – and every day we are to choose death to ourselves that the resurrection Light and Life of Christ might shine through us. That’s Luke 8:16 where Jesus said: “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter [or those you encounter] may see the light.”

You’ll remember that Jesus told the people of His day about the witness of John in John 5:35, “He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.” And have you fully absorbed Peter’s testimony in 2 Peter 1:16-19? “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came down from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

“Dark places – shining lights!” “Dismal circumstances – a shining Light!” “Defeating darkness – overcoming Light!” “Downcast spirit – uplifting Light of glory, honor, and praise!” “Doom and gloom attitudes – songs, singing, and shouting the Light of our Savior’s glorious praise!”

True light is seen, true light is radiant, true light reveals, true light exposes, true light overshadows, true light enhances and encourages, true light warns and illuminates dangers, true light glorifies God!

William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible Series on Matthew wrote: [p.122], “One of the old historians wrote of Henry the Fifth after the Battle of Agincourt: ‘Neither would he suffer any ditties to be made and sung by the minstrels of his glorious victory, for that he would wholly have the praise and thanks altogether given to God.” The Christian never thinks of what he has done, but of what God has enabled him to do. He never seeks to draw the eyes of men to himself, but always direct them to God. So long as men are thinking of the praises, the thanks, the prestige, which they will get for what they have done, they have not really even begun on the Christian way.” SOBERING WORDS!!

The only significance to your life is the Light of Christ within you – all else is sinking sand of selfish insignificance! If your life does not radiate the Life of Christ within it’s like ‘a boundless ocean of existence’ without eternal meaning and mission!

Darkness? Self-enhancement! Light? Christ-honoring! Darkness? A little dishonesty! Light? Living in Truth! Darkness? No sympathy! Light? Mercy and grace and kindness! Darkness? Self-promotion! Light? Self-denial to honor Christ alone! Darkness? Reckless abandonment to one’s sin nature! Light? Complete surrender to our Lord’s Lordship! Darkness? An incapacity to walk faithfully, holily, righteously before God! Light? One faithful unto death and crowned with the Light of Life!

Light? O.D. Kretzman, D.D., in the “Illinois Medical Journal,” once wrote: “If we are to survive the atomic [nuclear]age, we must have something to live by, to live on, and to live for. We must stand aside from the world’s conspiracy of fear and hate and grasp once more the great monosyllables of life: faith, hope, and love. Men must live by these if they live at all under the crushing weight of history.”

Do you understand the chaotic darkness of godless lives? And are you blessed by those God-filled lives of light and liberty and the love of God? I love what Philllip Brooks once said: “Be such a man, and live such a life, That if every man were such as you, And every life a life like yours, This earth would be God’s Paradise.”

What about St. Irenaeus, in “Adversus haereses, V, who wrote: “The Word of God, Jesus Christ, on account of Hid great love for mankind, became what we are in order to make us what He is Himself.” “Glory!”

In John 1:14-16 we read awesome words of heavenly intent for the “salt and light” folks of redemptive faith, full surrender, and awesome transformation: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”

W. Russell Bowie, in “The Chaplain,” [December 1960] wrote: “The doctrine of the incarnation is no unrelated speculation. It is the truth by which we find God, and are found by God, both in the common times, and the times of crisis. It says to us that the glory of God can be revealed in the little place and in the everyday event, as it was in the earthly life of Jesus; and it makes us trust that the divine redeeming purpose cannot be killed by the evil which may crucify it, and that in the love of Christ the power of God stands by us even when the world is dark.” GLORY AGAIN!

“Salt and Light” for me are the seeds of God’s everlastingness, the living fruit of His eternal vineyard, the healing touch of His grace of transformation, and the blessed flood of immortal living in His holy presence.

“Salt and Light” for me, because of our Lord’s saving grace, and His eternal mission, is the evidence of His indestructability of the Spirit-man and his role in touching God’s chosen with mercy!

“Salt and Light” is God’s “academy awards” not of fiction but the fact of eternal salvation and your participation in it. “Salt and Light” is God shining, unveiling, revealing the birth of immortality for all men if they but repent and put their faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross!

“Salt and Light” may have as its stage appearance the dim but darkening reality of a man’s separation from God, but its second and final drama is reconciliation with God, regenerated by God, and a renewal into God’s eternal intent for your life in Christ!

“Salt and Light” are a modern-day Job’s statement of faith and reason and revelation that “I know that my redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” [Job 19:25-26]

“Salt and Light” are the thoughts of eternal “rest”, eternal “restoration,” and eternal “consolation,” that says though earthly life was brief, eternal life in Him is forever!

“Salt and Light” are living hopes beyond the shadows of earthly dreams. “Salt and Light” are abandoned clothes in a casket because of absence from the body is presence with the Lord.

“Salt and Light” has a ring of nobility to it because to be in Christ is to be a part of a new creation that honors, blesses, and praises God and worships the King.

“Salt and Light”, white and bright, are those radiant colors of eternal hope, given to us that does not make us ashamed but continually blessing our Lord and being blessed.

“Salt and Light”, reminders of sins forgiven, the Savior present, the Spirit ruling, and Holy God being praised. “Salt and Light”, the great open door to our eternal home, the gathering of all the saints past, present, and future – and rejoicing in the angelic chorus at the throne of God as we all bow, adore, praise, exalt, and celebrate the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

“Salt and Light” – night and darkness are behind us and day and light ever before us, never diminishing but intensifying in our Lord’s eternal glory. “Salt and Light” – yes, it’s the heavenly language of our Lord and Master who tells us our value and worth is discovered as we look to His cross and resurrection.

“Salt and Light” – Joseph Addison, in “Cato,” [Act V, Sc 1] wrote: “The stars shall fade away, the sun himself grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But YOU shall flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, the wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.” Why? In Christ, through Salt and Light, you have become a part of a new day, a new way, a new heaven, a new life, a new future!

“Salt and Light” – an anonymous author penned these words: “Think of stepping on shore, and finding it Heaven! Of taking hold of a hand, and finding it God’s hand, Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial air, Of feeling invigorated, and finding it immortality, Of passing from storm and tempest to an unbroken calm, Of waking up, and finding it HOME.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“ARE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS BOUND OR BLESSED BY OLD TESTAMENT LAW?”

It was four years ago, 2009, that I had had printed in India my book entitled: “Dangerous Trends From The Denouncers Of Truth.” In that book the thirteenth chapter is entitled: “The Grace of the Law – A Necessary Revival.” I’m including that chapter in this book as another question: “Are New Testament Christians Bound Or Blessed By Old Testament Law?” In Hebrews 2:14-15 the author said: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself [Jesus] shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” And the fear of death is more than, yes, the fear of the devil, but even the fear of the broken law of God! Are you ‘bound up’?

If you’ve ever heard the statement, “We are people no longer under the Law but people under Grace!”, then you need to immediately pause, thoroughly examine the scriptures, and then respond to either the truth or error of that statement. There is a need, especially in America, for a necessary revival – THE GRACE OF THE LAW.

Without the resurrection of the grace of the law in this country, our nation will not survive these decades of decadence and immorality. God will not allow us to do so. Those who “take His name in vain” and bow down to the gods of their depraved flesh “will suddenly be broken and that without remedy.” In Matthew 5:17 Jesus is very clear: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”

The truth is that the law of God is either being fulfilled in you, through the presence of the indwelling Christ, or you find yourself under the Lord’s judgment because you are walking according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit! In Romans 3:31 Paul asks a vitally important question: “Do we then nullify the Law through faith?” (Then he answers his own question), “on the contrary, we establish the Law.” That word “establish” is translated from the Greek word “his–te–mi”, and means “to make to stand.” Because I’m a disciple of Jesus, I have become one who is to ESTABLISH again the law of God; I am to be one who MAKES TO STAND forever that which God requires; I am to be one who abides ‘in the Law,’ not in order to be saved, but BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN SAVED! Submission to the law of grace or transgression of that Law is the benchmark of either my obedience or my rebellion to Holy God!

In Ezekial 36 a prophetic picture is painted by the Lord. It is a picture, not only of those in Israel, but of the Church of the last days. Read carefully verses 17–31. What is God saying about that new, bold covenant that would see its fulfillment in Christ Jesus? Note especially verses 25–27: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols, (see also Colossians 3:5). Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

There is a new Law now! In Romans 8:2 Paul says it is “the Law of The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.” And then he says that as a result of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, our Lord has done what? He “has set you free from the Law of sin and death.” I grew up singing an old hymn, “Free from the Law, O happy condition!” It was not until later that I finally learned it was not freedom from the Law of God, but freedom from the Law of sin and death! Paul clearly states, in agreement with the previously mentioned words of Jesus, in Romans 8:3, that “[God] condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Jesus issued a strong warning in Matthew 5:18–9: “For truly I say to you, until Heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall b called great in the kingdom of Heaven.”

There are some who “keep” and don’t “teach.” There are some who “teach” and don’t “keep.” But our Lord says we are to be those who “keep and teach” even the least of the commandments. Sadly, today, our nation, and even our churches, have bought into a teaching that we are “free from the Law of God.” The result has been devastating! The Law of God has become a strange thing. Some church members will even get angry with you when you read the scriptures that the requirement of the Law of God is to be fulfilled in them! Ask me how I know!

In Hosea 8:12, speaking of Israel and prophetically of last days churches, God says: “Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of my law, they are regarded as a strange thing.” In Hosea 4:6–7 God called the nation of Israel to accountability, and He’s doing the same today to “religious America,” the nation that is “supposedly one nation under God.” Listen to what He says: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your children.” Several years ago, my son, Scott, wrote an article entitled The Law of God Today. Let me quote from that article: “We are living in the midst of one of the greatest times of apostasy in the history of the world. Paul warned us in 2 Timothy 3:1 that “in the last days difficult times will come.” He went on to describe these difficult times in the following verses: “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Many teach that this is a description of the condition of the world in general during the last days. If that is true, what is so unusually different about that as compared with any other time in history? Unregenerate men have always lived that way! The tragedy of this passage is that PAUL IS DESCRIBING THE LAST DAYS CHURCH!” And Scott spoke the truth!

As one reads through the Bible, it becomes very clear that God hates sin, in fact, He says, “the wages of sin is death.” But today the church is sending a confusing message to the world. As revelations of sexual immorality in the form of pornography, adultery, and homosexuality among preachers become a common occurrence in the national and local media, the church preaches more loudly than ever “the unconditional forgiveness of God.” The message of the gospel has been lowered to a “bumper–sticker theology” that says, “Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven,” and so they keep on sinning.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been neatly packaged into “Madison Avenue” slogans and phrases to make it more palatable to the masses, the goal being to present the “good news of God’s forgiveness” in a ”positive” non–offensive manner. All reference to man’s absolute depravity and his status before God as a sinner condemned to death apart from repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus alone, is completely ignored, and even labeled as harsh and unloving. A man like Robert Schuller can make the following statement and still be recognized as one of the leading evangelical ministers in the entire world! “I don’t think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence, counter–productive to the evangelism enterprise than the often CRUDE, UNCOUTH, AND UNCHRISTIAN STRATEGY OF ATTEMPTING TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF THEIR LOST AND SINFUL CONDITION.”

It is not crude, uncouth, and unchristian to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition! It is not crude, uncouth, and unchristian to make the church aware of sin that leads to death! I guess Schuller doesn’t appreciate Jesus saying that if He hadn’t come they wouldn’t have known their sin! They have forgotten what James said – or they make light of it and say it doesn’t really say what it says. But it does! James 5:19–20, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.”

Please hear me, the grace of God, the marvelous, matchless grace of God is not an excuse for sin. Grace is not licentiousness but liberty. Grace is not a frivolous teaching allowing you to flirt, court, or get into bed with any sin your heart desires. But grace is that fiery teaching of liberation and freedom emancipating you to “live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.” (Titus 2:12). In I Timothy 1:5, Paul tells Timothy: “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” And that’s God’s desire for His people. Notice Three Things:

First, LOVE FROM A PURE HEART.

Look at Psalm 24:3–5, “Who may ascend unto the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Living in the presence of Almighty God is conditional!

In Isaiah 59:1–2 the Lord specifies the consequence of sin upon our relationship with Him: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.” But remember that Ezekial 36:26 reveals God’s provision for His people – “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.” And what was the evidence of a new heart and spirit? “By My Spirit, you’ll keep the Law in your heart!” In fact, Galatians 5:14 says, “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

There is no pure heart apart from a new heart. In the New Testament the same message is born out in I John 2:3–6, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him, the one who says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner as He walked.” And how did Jesus walk? He walked in heart purity! He fulfilled, established, made to stand, the Law of God.

Second, A GOOD CONSCIENCE. The Word has much to say about conscience. In I Corinthians 8:7 Paul issues a warning about conscience, “a conscience being weak is defiled.” That is why Paul challenged Timothy in I Timothy 1:19, to maintain a good conscience. In I Timothy 3:9, he again challenged his spiritual son to hold “to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” And I assure you that the mystery of godliness is not being held onto in a lifestyle of law–breaking!

In I Timothy 4:2 Paul speaks of men who “by means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their own consciences as with a branding iron.” A seared conscience? There is no doubt what it is, it is those who violate the Law of God and feel no qualms about it – outside the church and within it, sometimes even in the pulpit! But there is hope! Hebrews 9:14 says, “how much more will the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

The prophet asked, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” In Luke 6:46 Jesus asks, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ yet do not do what I say?”

Third, A SINCERE FAITH. Does that mean there can be an insincere faith? Of course it does! But what is a sincere faith? Romans 3:31, once again, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law [of God]!” Do you understand that? An insincere faith? In I Timothy 6:3 Paul describes it as “anyone who advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness.” A question – did the Lord Jesus set aside the Law of God or did He intensify its demands? I read a review of a supposedly “Christian” book in an India newspaper by a doctor of theology there. There was a quote from his book that said, “Jesus hated the Old Testament Law.” I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was another confirmation of what the prophet Jeremiah called “the lying pen of the Scribes.”

In I Timothy 1:8–11, Paul instructs us in the purpose and proper use of God’s Law. He says: “But we know that the Law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”

Look carefully – “realize the fact that the law is not made for a righteous man.” A righteous man? I John 3:7 says, “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” There is by the grace of God an imputed, credited, declared righteousness through our faith in Christ that is real! But the deeper truth is, that imputed, credited, declared righteousness becomes the consuming passion of a man’s life, he’s not a play–actor (hypocrite), but a participant in the fullness of Christ’s indwelling Life. A “righteous man” is one who has been swallowed up by Life – one who has been clothed with His dwelling from Heaven. That’s Jesus, who fulfills the Law! And the man “in Christ” is the man indwelt by and overflowing with the spirit and attitude of Jesus, “I do always those things that please My Father.”

There are many who say, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior,” but it’s a matter of the head and lips, but not of the heart; it’s a matter of culture and convenience not commitment and consecration; and it’s often a matter of family tradition not a living, life–changing, vibrant, all–consuming passion and faith! In Matthew 7:21–23 Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of the Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Listen with your heart to Romans 6:19 if you are a Law of God violator! “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For first as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in your sanctification.”

I wonder why these verses are seldom read in many churches today? Look at the warning from John found in I John 3:4, “Everyone who practices sin also practices ; and sin is lawlessness!”

To practice lawlessness brings a curse and separation from God! Paul tells us in Galatians 3:13 that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Not though, REDEMPTION IS FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, NOT THE REQUIREMENT OF THE LAW! Galatians 3:14 continues, stating that through Christ we “receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The Spirit? The promise of the Spirit? Through faith? In Acts 5:32 the Word emphatically states who can receive the Spirit of God: “And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Look at Abram – he’s a pagan living in Ur of the Chaldees. He’s called out, chosen by God, and found faithful. His name is changed. The “AH” out of YAHWEH is added to signify his relationship with Almighty God. His life is changed, he receives the promise of the Spirit, and lives a life of obedience and submission to God. In Galatians 3:17 Paul says, “What I am saying is this: The law, which came 430 years later…” Why 430 years

later?

Because there was that long and unusual period in the history of God’s people when they walked in faith and obedience. It was not true in man’s early history! Genesis 6:5–6 says of the generation that was destroyed bt the flood, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually; and the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart!” There’s the flood and a Noah. Then in the sovereignty of God, He looks to Ur of the Chaldees, to pagan Abram, and raises him up to bless him and to make his name great and to bless through Abram all the families of the earth! For 430 years there is a new spirit and attitude in the hearts of men toward Holy God! Then comes the Law! Why? Galatians 4:19 asks and answers the question: “Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed should come to whom the promises have been made.”

Look to Galatians 3:21, “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be!” Now please look back to I Timothy 1:8. It is highly critical for your understanding, and mine. “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.” How does one use the law of God lawfully? Whenever there is lawlessness and rebelliousness, the law of God must be upheld. Whenever there is a compromise with the unholy and the profane, you must uphold the law of God. Whenever there is immorality and sexual perversions, the law of God must be upheld. Why? The Law leads us to Christ! In Galatians 3:24 Paul says, “Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.”

I want to quote again from Scott’s article “The Law of God Today.” “Jeremiah prophesied of the New Covenant that would be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jeremiah 31:33, h said, “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it.” In Hebrews 10:15–16, after stating that the Holy Spirit bears witness to us, Jeremiah 31:33 is quoted as applying to us, “I will put My law upon their heart.” In Psalm 40, a Messianic Psalm, Jesus says in verses 7 and 8, “Then I said, Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Your will, O My god; Your law is within My heart.”

The New Covenant that we have in Jesus Christ leaves no room for lawlessness; instead; the promise we have is that He will give us A NEW HEART, a heart that DESIRES TO DO HIS WILL. In Ezekial 36:26–27, we are told, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.”

Rather than resisting the true nature and character of God by justifying our rebellion, we are to have a heart like David, who said in Psalm 119:97, “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Israel had a law written on tablets of stone that God said was not too difficult for them to keep. We have the law of God written upon the tablets of our hearts and the Holy Spirit living within us to cause us to desire to do His will; that is why the writer of Hebrews warns us in Hebrews 2:3, after reminding us that every transgression and disobedience by Israel received a just recompense, ‘how shall we escape (judgment) if we neglect so great a salvation? We are without excuse!”

THE GRACE OF THE LAW – A NECESSARY REVIVAL BECAUSE:

Number one: MEN DON”T KNOW THEY ARE SINNERS!

There must be the necessary revival of the Grace of the Law because there are multitudes in sin and they don’t even know they’re sinners in danger of the eternal judgment of God! There was a French evangelist who said on an occasion of a deep burden over the lostness of man to a friend: “Oh, I wish I could find a sinner; I’ve got such good news to tell him.” The friend responded: “Find a sinner? Why, the world is filled with them.” And the evangelist answered: “I know, but it’s one thing to be a sinner and quite another to know it!”

Listen to Paul in Romans 7:7–12, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law; for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment producing in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the law sin is dead. And I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died; and this commandment which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good!” Examine Romans 3:20b,

“For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”

Isn’t it convenient that our nation’s courts have seen fit to remove the Law of God from hanging on the walls of courts and schools? Do you realize how rampant the violation of the Law of God is across the world today? And there must be a “voice raised in the wilderness declaring – Make His paths straight!”

*“The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23

*“Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Matthew 7:23

* “I have seen a violent, wicked man spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found. Transgressors will be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked will be cut off.” Psalm 37:35–36, 38.

*”Zion will be redeemed with justice, and her repentant ones with righteousness: But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end.” Isaiah 1:27–28.

* “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15. That’s not a good thing!

The Grace of the Law!

Number Two, MANY CHURCH MEMBERS HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THEY ARE NO LONGER ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR SIN.

There must be a necessary revival of the Grace of the Law because there are multitudes of churches filled with many people who truly believe they are no longer accountable to the Law of God, and even feel they are free to continue in sin because they believe they couldn’t do otherwise until they get to heaven! Yet, that is not the testimony of scripture or the truth of Christ’s triumphant victory over sin at Calvary! To the woman taken in adultery before Jesus, after her accusers left, said to her after forgiving her sin, “Go and sin no more.” That was also Paul’s challenge to the church at Corinth. In I Corinthians 15:34 he said, “Become sober–minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame.” I pray that as a disciple of the Lord that you will be mastered by the truth of Romans 6:12–22. It is truly one of the most liberating passages in all the Word of God. Remember Jesus’ words in John 8:32, “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!”

Look with me at several verses from Romans 6:12–22:

*6:12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts.”

*6:14, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law (of sin and death), but under grace!”

*6:18, “and having been freed from sin, you became servants of righteousness.”

*6:22, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit (grace, the Word, the Spirit) resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” (Read also Romans 8:12–14!)

In I Peter 4:17–18 the Word declares that “it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved (and it is), what will become of the godless man and the sinner.”

A number of years ago, I was pastoring Highlands Baptist Church in Ocala Florida. On a Sunday morning there was a handsome, striking couple that visited our fellowship. They signed a visitor’s card indicating they lived in the apartment complex across the street from the church. As usual, I visited all visitors the following week. I was not prepared for what I learned. This man had been a well–known pianist for churches and quartet ministries across the U.S. and Canada. I learned that the woman was not his wife, but that they had met and “fallen in love.” He left his wife; she left her husband and children. He informed me that before they made their final decision to break up two families they sought the counsel of “leading pastors” in the U.S. and Canada, and had been encouraged to “follow your hearts.” I was stunned! I paused! Then I excused myself, but asked the man to come by my office. The next morning he came. And with smiles on his face he asked me, “Well, Pastor, what do you think?” I didn’t have to think! I pointed the “finger of God” in his face and said, “Sir, you are an adulterer. I don’t care what your ‘leading pastors’ had to say, you are a lawbreaker. If I believed what you and those pastors believed, I’d close my Bible, close the doors of this church, and tell all the people to go home – it’s all a lie. But it’s not, and unless you and that woman repent you are both going to Hell along with those false prophets who counseled your rebellion to the Law of God. And, sir, until you repent, you are not welcome in this church.” I then walked out the church door and left him standing in the foyer in shock and dismay. He never came back. But a year later, 2a.m. in the morning, I got a long distance telephone call. There was a man on the other end weeping. He gave his name. It was the adulterous gospel piano player. He said, “Farrell, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You were the only man to tell me the truth. By the Word and the Spirit and your testimony, I finally saw the truth. I was convicted. I repented. The relationship was broken off, and by the mercy and grace of God my marriage has been restored. My wife and I would like to come to Ocala and tell what God did in our marriage. He’s even given us a ministry to hurting couples and troubled marriages.” He came – and we were blessed! I later saw him on national television playing the gospel of Christ piano and music with the countenance of Christ all over him!

Number Three, THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE. There must be the necessary revival of the Grace of the Law because this nation has lost sight of the “divine intent” of truly being one nation under God. Proverbs 14:34 states: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

Abimelech, king of Gerar, asked an interesting question in Genesis 20:4, “Lord, will You slay a nation?” He has in history, and He will also do so to our nation, unless our nation repents and returns to righteousness!

Deuteronomy 32:28 describes our nation today, “For they are a nation lacking in counsel, and there is no understanding in them.” Verse 29 says, “Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they (as a nation) would consider their latter end or discern their future.” Listen to David in Psalm 9:15–20, “The nations have sunk down in the pit, which they have made; in the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. The wicked will return to Sheol, even all the nations who forget God. For the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever. Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged before You. Put them in fear, O Lord; let the nations know that they are but men.”

In Isaiah 1:4, the Lord prophesies to Israel of their decline, and it is so applicable to America today, “Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons, who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord! They have despised the Holy One of Israel! They have turned away from Him!” Bill Bennett, former secretary of education and drug czar has written a book entitled “The Devaluing of America.” It should be read by every school board member in America. At one of the Republican conventions he made this statement, “There is a FRAYING of the social fabric of this great nation!” That’s true, but more than that, there is a fraying of the spiritual fabric of this once great nation! The garment of faith and obedience to Almighty God is being rent in twain from top to bottom! How does it happen?

Study Psalm 2. Look carefully at the first two verses! “Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed.” Then in verses 8–12, look at the end result of that! Don’t miss it! “Ask of Me and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Now, therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him.”

The Lord said to Samuel (I Samuel 8:7), “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.” We saw in the beginning of this third theme how (Proverbs 14:34) “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Let God bring conviction to you over the spiritual condition of our nation – and let’s pray together for genuine revival!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“ARE TEENAGERS, YOUTH, UNMARRIED YOUNG ADULTS FREE FOR ROMANTIC SLEEPOVERS?”

Again, when my Sue and I were in Park City, Utah, for about 12 days, August 3-August 15, 2013, I read another “USA Today” newspaper with an article entitled: “Let Teenagers Have Their Romantic Sleepovers,” with a picture of Angelina Jolie in 2001 with her mother, Marcheline Bertrand. It stated that when Angelina Jolie was 14 years of age, her boyfriend had been allowed to move in.

The article was written by Amanda Marcotte. She wrote: “While state education boards across the country are still embroiled in a debate over whether to even accept the realities of sex before marriage, in the real world, widespread acceptance of premarital sex and cohabitation has opened up a debate about whether parents who still have kids in the house should let them have romantic sleepovers or even let boyfriends or girlfriends move in…In 2011, Angelina Jolie shocked her fans with the news that she had lived with her boyfriend when she was 14, and that she planned to be just as liberal in the living arrangement department as her mother was. When the shock wore off, two years later, Henry Alford in “The New York Times” opened up the possibility that such a move might even be the smart one for parents and kids. It might even improve relationships between them.”

Amanda Marcotte then spoke of these “trends” as that which, she believed, was “reflective of a larger shift in American life,” which is true because the larger shift is a greater disgust of the Law and Word of Holy God. “Let’s take the Ten Commandments off the walls of our legal centers, schools, homes, and, yes, even churches – we just might offend somebody!”

Amanda Marcotte wrote: “The old-school parental claim that their offspring should never have premarital sex under their roof is yielding to a more accepting attitude about their growing and grown children’s sexuality.”

“The real world”? Yes! Enemies of God and His Truth, enemies of holiness and righteousness, enemies of the call to pure hearts and cleansed souls, enemies of anything or anyone that suggests we have a call from God to obey His Word, enemies of anyone who challenges sexual immorality is an offense against Lord God Almighty and a violation of His covenant-law and even His covenant-grace!

We live in a time period of American history of “misplaced, lost, and buried shame”! Shame over known-sin has been shed just as shame over lust, license, and the dark moments of adultery and fornication have been denied! It’s as if a former ‘stable society’ has given over to lawless claims of liberty and freedom to do as one pleases failing to recognize spiritual anarchy!

I do want you to know that I believe there is a time, there is a place, there is a ‘line’ that can be crossed – and when it’s crossed, Holy God will shut that door of opportunity to turn to Him – and judgment is birthed! Adultery, abortion, and, yes, animosity toward the God of Calvary’s love – and they shake their fists in defiance of God and His Word – and turn inward on themselves to satisfy their shameless lusts!

Do you remember Judges 17:6? “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Isn’t that true for a significant number of American citizens including many youth in our culture? And a word of warning from God’s Holy Word is essential here and now! Proverbs 17:15 says, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.”

Are you aware of how much justification of wickedness goes on in America today? Yes, even in the White House and presidential quarters day after day after day – and there will come a time when they stand before Holy God to give an account of their words, their deeds, their actions that shame His Word, His gracious deeds, and His atoning actions!

And promiscuous young people today? In “Aurora Leigh” Elizabeth Barrettt Browning wrote: “I felt so young, so strong, so sure of God,” but many youth have said by word and deed, “I feel so free to do as I please, really, so weak morally, but I’m a believer,” and deceive themselves in a licentious fashion indulging their fallen flesh to express their independence, believing they are unrestrained by God or His Word, by parents, by their school leaders or teachers, and they become loose in thinking and deeds when in reality they strap themselves tighter and tighter in fleshly and demonic bondage.

In Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1,13-14 we read: “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’ Verses 13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: ‘Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

I want you to grasp, young people, that liberty in Christ is not a license to Sin! There are those who will excuse your sin, give you false feelings of assurance as you sin, and even take advantage of you in participating in your sin. But neither in them or you yourself is there any genuine spiritual life at all if you bow before the American idol of sexual immorality!

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus speaks: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practices lawlessness.’”

John Piper wrote: [“A Godward Life,” p.256], “the evidence of being savingly known by Jesus is to be an evildoer no longer, that is, to have righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. Religious zeal and even miracle working do not prove a new heart of love.”

Do you ‘profess’ a marriage to Christ or look forward to a wedding to come? I think about those youth, the collegians, young adults, who have been ‘reared’ with no holy revelation, or of youth who’ve had great moms and dads, but are totally untethered to anything that godly parents taught them – oh, but they do ‘profess’ Jesus as they “call their own shots,” “determine their own way, deny discipleship demands, and even say, “I acknowledge You, Lord, but when it comes to sexual preferences, I’ll do as I please.”

But look at Matthew 22:2 and verses 10-14! “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son.” Verses 10-14, “So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Are you unaware of the lack of holy wedding garments in one’s marriage to Christ? Wedding garments? Wedding garments in the spiritual, heavenly realm? No heavenly wedding garments – no marriage to Christ! Have you, young people, overlooked Titus 2:14? “who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

I don’t hesitate in saying to youth and to adults that broken vows of honoring Christ through illicit, immoral sex-capades, deface and defame the precious picture of a Savior who washes our sins as white as snow! And forgiveness IS granted through the shed blood of our Lord, IF we accept His Word, “Go, and sin no more!”

Why was God’s law given? Romans 3:20 says, “…for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” And by the Cross and the shed blood of the Lamb of God the guilt of sin is washed away! Paul went on to say in Romans 3:21-26, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God sent forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Faith in Jesus is not a license to continue in sin, but liberty from the very power of it! And a young person who has embraced sexually immoral behavior, longing to be free of its curse and condemnation, repents and keeps on repenting, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of his/her faith, and establishes, not impure, but pure relationships with one of the opposite sex.

I don’t have to tell you that there are always consequences to broken laws of God, consequences to broken precepts of holy living before the Lord, and scars that often remain like a bad dream you can never forget. And the devil will surely remind you of what he believes is your unworthiness to receive God’s forgiveness. But it’s there, and there forever!

God is a good and gracious parent. In Hebrews 12:6 we read, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”

That’s not ‘jail-cell’ confinement imprisoning you as punishment, but an act of heavenly correction. In Hebrews 12:10-11, we learn what His conscientious purpose and plan is: “For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Young people, ‘painful’ correction or discipline spiritually is a high and holy calling AND ‘privilege’ but Jesus said in John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me,” and the attitude of our Lord concerning Father-God? In John 8:29 Jesus said: “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, FOR I ALWAYS DO THOSE THINGS THAT PLEASE HIM.” What a calling! What a mission for your life, young person! What holy privilege – “don’t cast your pearls before swine!”

There is no blessing in a scheme of law of God rejection or a personal pursuit of satisfaction of sexual tendencies that declares one guilty of breaking, defiling Holy Law in the pursuit of self-satisfaction of one’s “glands”! Again, John Piper wrote: [“A Godward Life,” p.119], “If you love God’s good gift of sexuality, take a stand for treating it like precious gems rather than common gravel. Guard it in the velvet-lined safe of steel commitment. Don’t strew it on the street or in the press.”

I pray that every young person in America would memorize Psalm 1! I believe a huge youthful transformation would occur concerning their response to youthful sexual immorality. Psalm 1 says: “Blessed is the man [the young person] who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

But I also believe that as Timothy, young Timothy, received counsel from his spiritual elder, Paul, if young people today would receive Paul’s words, a deepening of true faith would occur and a great respect for honoring God with the bodies would become a holy, heavenly reality! In 2 Timothy 2:19-22 Paul wrote:

“Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

I want you to know, young person, that it is God’s desire, His heart and passion, to redeem young men and young women but it is not His intent to celebrate your depraved decisions that satisfy your lusts and clashes with His Truth!

In James 3:13-17 the brother of Jesus wrote: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

John saw the “holy city,” the “New Jerusalem” in a vision in Revelation 21. And God spoke to him in verses 7-8 saying: “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Hear Jesus, young people – don’t turn a deaf ear to our Loving Savior and Lord! In Revelation 22:12-19 Jesus said: “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

Do you remember Joseph, the youngster, who honored God? In Genesis 39:1-9 there is an awesome example for youth today!! It says: “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and he served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had put under his authority. So it was, from the time he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

I want to share a word from Josh McDowell from his book, “Beyond Belief To Convictions.” He said: [p.166], “God is so passionate about his relationship with us and our kids that he has personally – and miraculously – provided the inspiration of his word, supervised its transmission, and repeatedly reinforced its reliability so that all those who have open eyes and open hearts may believe it with assurance and conviction. Nations may have rejected it, tyrants may have tried to stamp it out, heretics may have tried to distort it, but the evidence of the Bible’s reliability is sufficient to assure us and our kids that it has remained a true reflection of reality – of who God is – and that it is “stronger and more permanent than heaven and earth,” [Luke 16:17]. Moreover, an examination of how God has meticulously and miraculously protected the integrity of His Word will impress us and move us with the depth of God’s love for us and His faithfulness toward us.”

Oh, youth, young people, those caught in a cruel trap of self-indulgence and sensual, sexual ‘pleasure’ – it is out of the very pit of hell to steal from you marriages; greatest gift for a husband or a wife – the gift of sexual pleasure untainted but celebrated on a wedding night and for untold years to come! Oh, understand it, grasp it, hold out for it – the gift of purity, saved for your wife, saved for your husband!

In sexual relationships there is a high mountain of the very glory of God in your marriage, where the armies of Satan celebrate and get their “fix” in every diabolical sexual perversion! If you’re there, you are “feeding” the demons! And most youth have never been told they “entertain” demons unaware!!

Has the ‘voice’ of shame deceived you, blinded you, deafened you? Has a fallen society so corrupted you that you cannot begin to hear God’s passionate voice about fighting the fight of faith? Has even a divided, deceived church community ‘brain-washed’ you that pre-marital sex is no big deal? Are ‘common-place’ professors violating you with ‘uncommon,’ ‘evil,’ ‘fleshly’ thoughts about what’s normal to them – immoral, perverted lifestyles?

Too many youth are garrisoned by the godless and consider they’re OK to do and be what their fatalistic friends do and are! Too many youth are entrenched in the norm of a fallen society producing in them a spiritual stagnation, refusing to even LOOK God’s Way! Too many youth are “comfortable” with a Christless crowd where their dispositions become boxed in to immoral living, sexual perversions, illicit activities, so guiltily playing “the fool” with their souls.

Oh, youth, “you must be born again”! Of, youth, “you must be born of the water of God’s Word and born of His Holy Spirit”! Oh, youth, Jesus loves you and wants YOU to be His Bride! Oh, youth, Jesus must increase and you must decrease! Oh, youth, recognize that you were crucified with Christ, yes, YOU, 2000 years ago! Your old sin man died on the Cross with your Lord and Savior! There’s forgiveness, cleansing, reconciliation, renewal, residency with your life His home on earth!

What does Isaiah 45:22-25 tell us, young people? “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say, ‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come. And all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.” How does: “shall be justified and shall glory” sound to you?

I do care about where you’ve been by the choices you’ve made and what you’ve done by the choices you’ve made because there are consequences, yes, good and bad – but more importantly the Word tells me, yes, that God Himself is so pleased when one youth turns to Him!

In Acts 26:12-19 receive the testimony of Paul! “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith.’ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

Oswald Chambers wrote in his “My Utmost For His Highest” valuable words for the understanding of every young person. He said: “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul – Your whole life is to be overmastered by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine. I HAVE CHOSEN YOU!!”…When we are born again we all have visions, if we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained. It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is immensely commanding – “to make YOU a minister and a witness.” There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person not a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s, he saw nothing else, he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

What about you, young lady? What about you, young man? To Whom or to what do you belong?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“HOW WILL YOU PLEAD?”

Have you ever witnessed a court-room scene when someone is being arraigned for a crime and the judge asks, “Mr. So & So, HOW DO YOU PLEAD?” Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says of “arraign”: “To call or set a prisoner at the bar of a court, to answer the matter charged against him in a indictment or information. When called, the indictment is read to him and he is to plead guilty or not guilty and to elect by whom he will be tried.”

Before the judgment bar of Holy God, how will YOU plead? Before the judgment bar of Holy God, who do you choose to be your advocate? Before the judgment bar of Holy God, what’s the case you lay out before Holy God? Think about it! Why?

In Romans 2:1-3 Paul wrote: “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, that you will escape the judgment of God?”

Paul said to the Corinthian congregation in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.”

Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Peter had a challenging word to every man. In I Peter 4:14-19 he wrote: “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

Oh, I do like what Anthony Hoekema wrote in his book, “The Bible And The Future,” [Grand Rapids: Wm.B. Eerdman’s Publ. Co., 1979, p.259], “The failures and shortcomings…of believers…will enter into the picture on the Day of Judgment. But – and this is the important point – the sins and shortcomings of believers will be revealed in the judgment as forgiven sins, whose guilt has been totally covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And I know this is why David wrote in Psalms 19:9-10, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”

But pity and pray for those who see the finger of God writing over their judgment page the word “TEKEL”, [Daniel 5:27], “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.”

When I married my wife, Sue, she was of the Methodist persuasion, and still is! There’s an old Methodist hymn with these words: “Are you ready? Are you ready? Ready for the Judgment Day? When the saints and sinners shall be parted right and left – Are you ready for the Judgment Day?”

And do you remember Julia Ward Howe’s words in the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”? “He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat, He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judgment Seat”? Oh, think about it! Press in to it! Have you heard the arguments?

ONE, “I’M A RELIGIOUS MAN”!! But I’m not ashamed to bust that bubble that that man based his life upon because ‘religion’ has never “REDEEMED” any man! Do you really differentiate between ‘religion’ and what Jesus said, “You MUST BE BORN AGAIN, born of the water of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit”?

Religion began in the Garden of Eden! Genesis 3:7 says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; AND THEY SEWED FIG LEAVES TOGETHER (“FIG-LEAF RELIGION”) AND MADE THEMSELVES COVERINGS.”

That’s man-made creations! That’s religious invention that has no intention of being reconciled to God God’s Way! From “Confusionism’ to Hinduism to Islam-ism, that’s men’s intent on doing their own thing in their own way, deciding for themselves what makes them look good before a ‘god’ they claim to know.

Religion has been confronted by Christ as empty of redeeming merit! Do you remember Nicodemus, a religious man, a spiritual guru of Judaism? We read about him in John 3:3-11!! Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.”

Do you remember Paul before King Agrippa because of the Jews’ condemnation of him after his conversion to Christ? In Acts 26:5 we read, “They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our RELIGION I lived a Pharisee.”

But was he “saved,” was he “redeemed,” was Paul at that time, under Pharisaical religion saved? NO!! I remember Major Ian Thomas of England speak of those who are “awakened souls, but unregenerate in spirit.” SO TRUE!

Religion may awaken a soul to some form of conscience but it cannot transform into a “new creation.” Religion may excite with mandates of some shades of truth but it doesn’t, hasn’t, and never will lead to DIVINE TRUTHY except by the shocking awareness of religion’s EMPTINESS! Have you heard it?

TWO, “I LIVE BY THE GOLDEN RULE.” Do you realize how that flies in the face of God?

If the “golden rule” is redemptive, then why did God decree “the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world”? If the “golden rule” is regenerative, then why the Cross of Christ? If the “golden rule” SAVES, then why did the SAVIOR SUFFER? If man’s initiative transforms, then why the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? If you’ve determined that all you need is to live by the “golden rule,” then you’re the goose that is about to be cooked because all you can lay are brass eggs, trying to pass off as “golden,” when it’s only “fools’ gold.”

Golden rule mentality, spiritual mentality on your terms, is ‘self-determination,’ and “my best efforts ought to be acceptable even if God chooses the death of His Son.” BUT LISTEN: 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 tells us: “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…that is, that GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to ud the WORD OF RECONCILIATION.”

THREE, “I’VE DETERMINED I AM A RIGHTEOUS MAN.”

That’s man’s unsound declaration revealing how far he is from Holy God! What does God say? “…ALL (ARE) LIKE AN UNCLEAN THING, AND ALL (THEIR) RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE LIKE FILTHY RAGS…” [Isaiah 64:6].

Do you remember how that happened? Genesis 2:16-17 says, “And the Lord God commanded the man saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”

The trees of the garden of which we may freely eat? “The tree of life!!” That is Living By The Life of Another [Jesus Christ], that is Living In And Through God’s Life, That is Partaking of the Fruit of Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

But the “Good Old Boys” Network ‘measures themselves by themselves,’ and partakes of the fruit of “good and evil.”

Here’s the “shocker,” my friends: Holy God took your best and your worst, BOTH, and judged them worthy only of the Cross! In Christ Jesus God crucified your best AND your worst! “I am crucified with Christ!”

Two thousand years ago Holy God hung you on the Cross with Christ: your goodness was judged worthy of death – your evilness was judged worthy of death! And you ‘think’ you have something to offer to God? So, when you stand before the Court of God, how will you plead? Who is your advocate? What will be your defense?

“I’m a religious man”? “I’ve lived by the Golden Rule”? or “I’ve determined, God, whether You like it or not, I’m a righteous man”?

But there is another option, another life choice, another Way…it’s called the Way of love, grace, and mercy, in and through the sacrifice of Christ in YOUR behalf! And consider this: If you were the only person who ever lived, what Jesus did for the whole lost and dying world, He would have done what He did just for YOU!!**

“My faith has found a resting place – not in device or creed! I trust the ever LIVING ONE – HIS WOUNDS FOR ME SHALL PLEAD… I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died, and that HE DIED FOR ME.”

Your life, its foundation, is built on either selfish gratification or on Sovereign Grace. “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? AMAZING LOVE! HOW CAN IT BE, THAT THOU, MY GOD, SHOULD DIE FOR ME?”

You’re familiar with I Corinthians 11 where Paul talked about the Lord’s Supper. In verse 28 he said, “But let a man EXAMINE HIMSELF, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

This IS examination time, encounter time, entreaty time. It’s “TERROR OF THE LORD” TIME or “TRIUMPHANT MERCY, LOVE, AND GRACE TIME.” This is “pump my flesh time” or “falling on the Rock of Jesus time” This is “self-measurement time” or “Sovereign mercy time.” This is “grit time” or “marvelous grace time” from our loving Lord.

This is the “mountain top of self-approval time” or the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins time”. This is “boastfulness and willfulness of self time” or the “bread and wine time” of God’s redemptive plan. This is the self-written “book of accomplishment time” or the “Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine time”!

Are you familiar with the old hymn entitled “At Calvary”? “Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died, AT CALVARY…Mercy there was great and grace was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me…There my burdened soul found liberty AT CALVARY.” Have you been there?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“WHEN GOD SPEAKS?”

It happened many years ago when I was pastoring a church in a southern city in the U.S.A. I was sitting in my church office intent in preparation both in the Word and in prayer for the coming Sunday services. All of a sudden, I sensed a strong and powerful “Voice.” “Your friend, [I’ll leave him unnamed] is involved in an adulterous affair. Go tell him to repent or I’ll strike him dead.” I was stunned! (“What was that? Who was that? It wouldn’t be God. My friend is happily married. My friend is in church every Sunday. My friend is so hospitable to me and my wife. My friend is a successful businessman.”) That sure was strange – and I shut it down.

Three months later it broke wide open. It was true. A relationship had been going on for three years with a ‘lady’ (?) in the church unknown to no one, we thought, but later we learned from a few of our church youth they had known and had been following the couple to their ‘hidden’ rendezvous. The man’s marriage was rescued. The woman walked away from her husband and children.

Was it God speaking and I couldn’t hear? I believe it was without a doubt! Jack Deere, in his book “Surprised By The Voice of God,” [p.20], wrote: “The God of the Bible reveals much more to us than the sins of others. He speaks about many things. Sometimes we fail to hear Him because He says more than we want to hear. Sometimes we fail to hear Him because we are ignorant of the varied ways in which He chooses to speak to us. And sometimes we fail to hear Him because His voice is drowned out by competing voices that masquerade as God’s voice, throwing us into confusion.

Listen to the Word of God!! His voice is on every page: In Jeremiah 7:23-24,26, we read: “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. Verse 26, Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.” It didn’t get any better at this time for God’s people!

Jeremiah 11:10 says, “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who REFUSED TO HEAR MY WORDS, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

So God asked a question! Jeremiah 23:18, “For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?” And here comes a challenging, convicting, mind-clearing, and will-engineering word that should shake you to the core!! Jeremiah 25:4 says: “And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.”

Did it say, “rising early and sending them”? Was that early a.m., early morning, early in their pilgrimage, or was it that God, early on, “read their mail,” “watched their reluctance early in their journey to submit themselves to Him,” or God foreseeing, after their choices of deafness to His voice, the perception of their falling away?

In Matthew 10 Jesus had just sent out His twelve disciples, and in verse 27 He said: “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.” He had just said in verse 26, “…and there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and HIDDEN THAT WILL NOT BE KNOWN.” [HOW’S YOUR FEAR OF GOD DOING?].

Paul was giving his defense in Acts 22 after the commander was about to arrest him – and he told of Ananias coming to him, sent by the Lord. In verse 14, Ananias said to him, “The God of our fathers has chosen you that YOU SHOULD KNOW HIS WILL, AND SEE THE JUST ONE, AND HEAR THE VOICE OF HIS MOUTH.”

If you’ve ever been under my preaching ministry at all, I know you’ve heard me preaching over and over again: “God is no respecter of persons. What He’s done for Moses, Paul, David, John, He’ll do for you.” And that includes conversational language concerning His good, acceptable, and perfect will for your life!

And God is still speaking as He did to Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or James because His love for us is as great as it was for them. Our Lord is still speaking because of the intensity and overflow of His heart, purposes, plans, and missions because they are as great or greater now than they were then.

He’s still speaking because HE WANTS US TO HEAR HIS VOICE in order to know Him more perfectly, maturely, and intimately.

He’s still speaking because, like a little child with a loving father, He wants to build our confidence and assurance as to our Holy Family Heritage.

He’s still speaking because like a small ship in a big ocean we need the ‘Heavenly Stars of His Priceless Words” to give direction to our lives!

I picked up Larry Lea’s book “The Hearing Ear” a few years ago. I finally started to read it recently! I was overjoyed by what I read. In the “Preface,” Lea said: “Most of us can point to some specific time and say, ‘That was the turning-point in my life.’…I certainly can… (Lea said:), When I think of my turning point, I remember that day back in 1968 when, for the first time in my life, I heard the voice of God… I was 17 years old and I had lost my mind. Locked inside the psychiatric ward of Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas, I spent most of the time lying on my bed in a drugged stupor with my eyes rolled back in my head. I thought that the lady who cleaned my room was my mother and that the patient across the hall was the doctor…

But one day the horrible mental fog around my brain cleared just long enough for a shining ray of hope to penetrate my senses. Falling to my knees, I prayed the only prayer I knew how to pray. Pleading, weeping, I cried out to God, over and over I sobbed out His name: ‘Jesus! Jesus! Oh, merciful Jesus!…

Suddenly, I heard a voice speak in my spirit: ‘Now, you are My son. You will take My message to this generation. You will be My mouth and My minister.’ Then the voice told me I could get up and go home…In less than a week, I walked out of that hospital, and I’ve sought to walk by that same still, small voice ever since.” [THANK YOU, LARRY LEA!!].

Over and over again in the Word, it says: “He who has ears, let him hear!!” NOW, LISTEN TO JESUS!! In John 8:42-47 Jesus said: “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God, HEARS GOD’S WORDS; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

Isn’t it amazing that what some call “dumb sheep” Jesus talks about them “hearing His voice”! In John 10:3-5 Jesus said, “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Oh, and then Jesus said in verse 16: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”

I tell you, Jesus HAS SPOKEN TO YOU whether you’ve heard and responded to His voice or not! He SPEAKS – you should listen! Then, in John 10:27-18 Jesus continued: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

So…what is this really all about “When God Speaks?”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS THE VOICE OF FRIENDSHIP AFFIRMATION! In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron had just spoken against Moses, and God showed up!! Numbers 12:6-8 says, Then God said, HEAR NOW MY WORDS: ‘If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision, and I speak to him in a dream… Not so, with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house -…I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings, and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?’”

We see in Exodus 33:11, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” There’s an old hymn entitled “Day By Day.” It says: “Day by day, and with each passing moment, Strength I find, to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment, I’ve no cause for weary or for fear. He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best – Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest…Every day, the Lord Himself is near me, With a special mercy for each hour; All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me, He Whose Name is Counselor and Power; The protection of His child and treasure Is a charge that on Himself He laid; “As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,” This is the pledge to me He made.”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS THE VOICE OF INSTRUCTION:

I want you to come to Deuteronomy 4:10-12, 33, 35-36, and verse 39: The Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children. Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice…Verse 33, “Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?…Verses 35-36 “To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.” …Verse 399, “Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.”

What is His Holy Word telling us as He speaks to our hearts? 1) “That they may learn to fear Me –“ In Matthew 10:28 Jesus confirms the legitimacy of one “fearing God” when He said: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather FEAR HIM who is able to destroy both soul and body in HELL.”

Have you seen the truth of the everlasting gospel in Revelation 14:6-7? Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people – saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has comer; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

2) “That they may teach their children –“ Do you have a passion that your own children grow up with an intensity of godly identification? “Our parents birthed us, but we’ve chosen to truly be children of faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” WOW! How good is that?!? And, thank God, for parents who do not ignore the spiritual training of their children!

3) “That they may know the Lord Himself is God; there is none other.” I pray that you remind, teach, instill within your children and family Exodus 20:3-6!! “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Now…

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS THE VOICE OF WITNESS AND WARNING:

In Psalm 81:9-16 we are “admonished”: “There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”

The prophet Ezekial received a word from God in Ezekial 3:17, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning for Me.”

It’s why the psalmist in Psalm 95:7-8 recorded God’s heart-cry: “Today if you will hear His voice:…Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion; and as in the day of trial in the wilderness…” I ask YOU: Was the day of trial in the wilderness of God?

In Isaiah 30:9 God said to the prophet, “this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear THE LAW OF THE LORD.”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS THE VOICE OF DIRECTION FOR YOUR LIFE, YOUR WITNESS, YOUR PERSONAL MINISTRY, YOUR OWN SPIRITUAL HEALTH:

In Isaiah 30:21 we read, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Whenever you turn to the right or whenever you turn to the left.” His voice of direction? I Corinthians 16:9 speaks of “…a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries…” Why the adversaries? Why the opposition? Because there are those who have no desire to be led by God!

In Revelation 3:7-8 we read, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things say HE who is holy, HE who is true, HE who has the keys of David, HE who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens…I know your works. See, I have set before you an OPEN DOOR, AND NO MAN CAN SHUT IT.” Oh, and then there is Colossians 3:14-17!! “But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him.”

To Noah, God said: “Make yourself an ark,” even if he didn’t know what an ark was! To Abraham, God said, “Get out of your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house to a land I will show you…I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

To Moses, God said, “Come now and I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” To Paul, God said, “Rise and stand on your feet: for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things I will yet reveal to you.”

A poem written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox says this: “One ship drives east and another drives west with the selfsame winds that blow. ‘Tis the set of the sails And not the gales which tells us the way to go.”

What’s the “set of the sails” for your life? Has God Almighty “set your sails”? Or is it self-will, self-rule, self-pleasure, self-direction, or the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God? In Genesis 24:27 we read, “I being in THE WAY, the Lord led me…”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF JUDGMENT UPON THE NATIONS:

In Isaiah 34:1-6, 8, we read astounding words about the voice of God’s judgment – and not one nation is spared!! “Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the Lord is against the nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree. For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Verse8, For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”

It was Thomas Carlyle who once wrote: “Foolish men imagine that because judgment for an evil thing is delayed, there is no justice, but only accident here below. Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed some day or two, some century or two, but it is as sure as life, it is as sure as death!” [Get ready, America! God has set you in His sights!}

In Isaiah 42:13 we read: “The Lord shall go forth like a might man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.” Are you ready for the march of the mighty man, God, as He comes and clearly calls your name to stand before Him and give an account? Why? Isaiah 65:12 says: “Therefore I will number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear, but did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.”

Have you heard some say: “Old Testament! Old Testament! We’re of the New Testament crowd!” Really? In Revelation 6:12-17 we read: “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and ion the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from THE WRATH OF THE LAMB! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

But men of saving grace and faith and mercy who truly have heard His voice and responded in true repentance and faith? Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:17-18, “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES:

In Isaiah 42:5-9 we read: Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Aren’t you awed as you come to the Book of Acts and read about Philip? Acts 8:26-35 says: Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Etiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: [Out of Isaiah 53], “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.”

[And aren’t you amazed as you read Acts 9:1-20 and see the blessed conversion of Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the Apostle? Please read it!!].

Isaiah 43:18-21 tells US of OUR NEW OPPORTUNITIES!! “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise.”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF HOPE: Ezekial 36 and Ezekial 37 are both clear passages of understanding about the heart of God and His voice of hope, yes, in you and in me!

In Ezekial 36:24-30 we read, God speaking: “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.”

And I pray you will pause, right now, and turn in your own Bible to Ezekial 37, reading the first ten verses! You’ll be awed by what you read. It’s God’s promise of new life, new breath, new blessings!

Dead-bone nations have a sunlight of hope! Dead-bone people like you and me have a revelation- ray of holy sunshine and hope shining on us! Dead-bone churches can be raised up to resurrection life and light by Jesus only! Dead-bone marriages can, and, yes, will be renewed by the miracle of grace and mercy! And, dead-bone visions and dreams will hear His voice of hope!

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF SALVATION AND DELIVERANCE FROM THE BONDS OF SPIRITUAL DEATH:

In John 5:25 we read, “Most assuredly, I SAY TO YOU, the hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the dead WILL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD; AND THOSE WHO HEAR WILL LIVE.”

Jesus now, yes, NOW, stands before the tombs of multitudinous lives “dead in trespasses and sins,” and says, “Lazarus, COME FORTH!” “FARRELL, COME FORTH!” “ANGIE, COME FORTH!” “CALEB, COME FORTH!” And His Word says: “and he who had died came forth…!” Amen?

William T. Sleeper and George C. Stebbins wrote the old hymn: “Jesus, I Come.” It says: “Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come; Into Your freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to You; Out of my sickness into Your health, Out of my want and into Your wealth, Out of my sin and into Yourself, Jesus, I come to You!” Amen?

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF DIVINE CONVICTION:

Jesus said in John 15:22, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Divine Conviction? Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says of conviction: “The act of convincing, or compelling one to admit the truth of a charge; the act of convincing of sin or sinfulness; the state of being convinced or convicted by conscience; the state of being sensible of guilt; as, the ‘convictions’ of a sinner may be temporary or lasting and efficacious. By ‘conviction’ a sinner is brought to repentance. Men often sin against the ‘conviction’ of their own consciences.”

• There is THE DIVINE CONVICTION OF HOLY PRESENCE: Luke 5:8 says, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet or knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
• There is THE CONVICTION OF HOLY LAW: Romans 7:8-9 tells us, “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.”
• There is THE CONVICTION OF THE HOLY GHOST: John 14:8-9 says, “And when He [the Holy Ghost6] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…of sin because they do not believe in Me…”
• There is THE CONVICTION OF THE HOLY WORD: Psalm 119:133 says, “Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You.” Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.254], has written: “Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses a man’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God – “against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight.” The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God’s grace. Repentance always brings a man to the point: I HAVE SINNED. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says it and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself.” [Where is God in that? ‘disgust at self’, but no shame before God?]

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF AWESOME, MYSTERIOUS REVELATION:

In 2 Corinthians 12:1-5 we read of these mysterious revelations. It says: “It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast except in my infirmities.”

Isn’t it amazing to you? Here’s Paul. He knows of others who’ve been blessed, encouraged, and uplifted by these awesome events of ‘hearing God’! Then Paul hears Him! And he wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. ‘Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When our Lord speaks to you, you be strong in Him!

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF UNVEILING OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST:

Oh, get ready! This is so good! Revelation 1:9-20 is a word from John for every believer! It says: “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodecia.” Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with Me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”

This is so similar to what Peter, James, and John experienced as Jesus took them up on a high mountain, Matthew 17:1-6, “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.” Have you entered the “glory-cloud” of holy presence lately?

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, UNDERSTAND, IT IS WITH THE VOICE OF VICTORIOUS CONQUEST:

In I John 5:4-5 John tells us: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

There is such an encouraging, inspirational word for us in John 4:42 which says: Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” Spurgeon wrote: [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial library, Vol.13,p.225], “Appointed, anointed, commissioned of the Father to speak to us, to confer with us, to make known among us the mind and will of our great and gracious Sovereign,…[Jesus spoke} and we should heed and hearken to His words.” Have YOU heard the voice of God speaking to you?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD?”

As we begin this chapter study together, I want to lay the foundation with three different passages of God’s Word: First, Psalm 139:1-6, 16-17, 23-24, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Verses 16-17, Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. Verses 23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Philippians 4:4-6 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

Jeremiah 23:23-29, “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “And not a God afar off?” Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord. Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”

How is it with you as you face yourself, your walk, your pilgrimage, your journey as a follower of Christ when you come to such a word as Psalm 139 and Paul’s letter to the Philippians? Or what about Jeremiah’s deep awareness of God’s eyes on him?

Do you read it with the same insight David wrote with, or Paul, or Jeremiah? “MY LORD IS NEAR TO ME!!” When Paul wrote Philippians he was “chained,” yes, “imprisoned,” bound, not knowing if he would live or die! In Philippians 1:13 he said, “it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that MY CHAINS ARE IN CHRIST.” *QUESTION!!*

Are the “chains of YOUR circumstances ‘IN CHRIST’?” Is what happens to you seen as an opportunity “FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL”? Do you see every situation, event, happening, as another giant step of you “being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of others’ faith?

Paul faced tremendous problems, and yet he saw them as OPPORTUNITIES because “in nothing was he going to be ashamed, [but that] now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”

And when in Philippians 4:5 Paul said, “The Lord is at hand,” he wasn’t talking about the Lord’s bodily return, or His second coming, but about HIS ABIDING PRESENCE! He eagerly waited for the Savior’s “coming again,” but here he’s gloriously overwhelmed by the deep awareness that Paul’s life was enveloped, en-sphered, encircled, en-grasped, enraptured with the precious presence of the Prince of Peace.

Do you live OVERSHADOWED BY THAT DIVINE CLOUD OF GLORIOUS PRESENCE? Spurgeon said he could not recall ever spending even a short 15 minutes without the profound thought of the presence of Christ!! “The Lord is at hand!!”

How did David put it? Psalm 139:7-12 and verse 5 says, “The Lord is at hand!” F.B. Meyer, in his Devotional Commentary on Philippians, [p.209], wrote: “We all know times like that. We have been walking in the midst of some beautiful landscape, the river rushing past, flowers dipping their cups silently into its brink, the gentle air moving through the quivering leaves above, the insect life humming its varied music, and all nature suffused with the smile of the sun. Then, all of a sudden, there has been borne in on us the consciousness of a spiritual presence; we have FELT A BREATH ON OUR FACES, A THRILL IN OUR HEARTS, [“THE LORD IS NEAR”]…In church, when saying your prayers mechanically, falling in with the murmur of repetition as you’ve done a 1000 times, standing listfully listening to the people singing, or joining them without much heart; sitting apparently intent on the words of the minister while your thoughts have been far away on business or pleasure. SUDDENLY there has been as if it were the music of GOLDEN BELLS, and YOU HAVE REALIZED THAT THE OLD PROMISE WAS BEING FULFILLED: “THERE AM I IN THE MIDST.” Without opening the door, without the sound of a footfall the Lord Jesus has glided into the shut apartment of your nature, and you have said, ‘The Lord is NEAR.’”

One of the awesome truths of life that needs to be awakened in your heart and mind is the reality of God’s desire for you TO KNOW HIS NEARNESS, for you to know His love for you, how ‘precious’ His thoughts are TO YOU, and how the Living God, the Resurrected Savior, and the reigning Holy Spirit is as much with you and for you as if there was no one else on the face of the earth – just you and Him! Let’s look at this “nearness”:

THERE’S THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD EVEN IN OUR FALLEN STATE AND NATURE:

What does Romans 3:23 say? “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Oh, and then Isaiah 59:2 reminds us, “your iniquities have separated you from God.”

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s Word and bought into Satan’s “LIE” that you can sin and not die, they died spiritually and all of a sudden realized their spiritual nakedness and the separation of their souls from God.

Even then as now they began to think, “God is far away,” or “there is no God,” or “if there is a God, He doesn’t care about me,” or “If there is a God, and He knows my condition, He’ll not want anything to do with me.”

And the problem is because our own hearts, in our fallen state, are so far from God, WE CONCEIVE THE FALSE IDEA THAT GOD’S HEART IS FAR FROM US! But look at Genesis 3!!, and especially verses 4-9! What did they do?…”hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.”

Do you know about hiding? Men hide themselves in their depraved thoughts. They hide themselves in their religious deceptions. They hide themselves in their busyness. They hide themselves in their alcohol, drugs, or sexual addictions. They hide themselves in their self-made, personally designed, fleshly goals, aims, and ambitions building towers to make a name for themselves. They hide themselves even in the pews of “Cultural Christianity”!

Then…all of a sudden, “Adam, where are you?” In his hiding place – and it’s God seeking Adam! It’s not man who seeks after God. What does Romans 3:10-12 tell us? As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.

We didn’t seek God – GOD SOUGHT US! It’s not our voice, “God, where are You?” It’s God’s voice – “Adam, where are you?” [And you do know, don’t you, that God knew exactly where Adam was: geographically or positionally”]

God’s “The Seeker.” God’s “The Hound of Heaven.” It’s not “search and destroy,” but “seek and save”! What does “Immanuel” mean? God With Us. God In The Flesh. John 1:11-12 tells us: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

Listen to Spurgeon, [Memorial Library, Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol.18, p.270], “Friends, I remember well when I was in the death-cart, and Jesus came to me with PARDON. Death and hell were before me; I rejoiced exceedingly when I SAW THE NAILPRINTS IN HIS HANDS AND FEET, and the WOUND IN HIS SIDE. When He said, “Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven,” I thought I never saw such loveliness before, and never heard such music in all my days.”

What did David say in Psalm 40? “HE BROUGHT ME UP OUT OF A HORRIBLE PIT, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps…He has put a new song in my mouth…PRAISE TO OUR GOD!”

What does that great old Hymn say? “Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary…[But] by God’s Word at last my sin I learned – Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned, Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary…O the love that drew salvation’s plan! O the grace that brought it down to man! O the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!”

Forever man should know of God’s nearness because of that mighty span of the Cross of Jesus! But also..

THERE’S THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES IN NEED OF PERSONAL REVIVAL:

In Psalm 85:6 the question of this hour, today, right now, comes forth: “WILL YOU NOT REVIVE US AGAIN, THAT YOUR PEOPLE MAY REJOICE IN YOU?” What did Paul say in Philippians 4:4-5? “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, REJOICE!…Let your [steadfastness] be known to all men. THE LORD IS AT HAND.”

When you come to Psalm 119:67 you’ll hear King David say: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” In verse 149 he said, “Hear my voice, according to Your lovingkindness; O Lord, REVIVE ME according to Your justice…” and then said in verse 151, “You are NEAR, O Lord…” Personal Revival Needed? REVIVAL BECAUSE ONE LOSES THE JOY OF SALVATION, REVIVAL NEEDED BECAUSE ONE HAS WILLFULLY GONE ASTRAY (Psalm 119:176), “I have gone astray like a lost sheep…”, and, yes, corporate revival because the church as a whole has lost the desire to pray, (Psalm 80:18), “revive us, and we will call upon Your name,” revival because one has lost that glorious inner countenance – days without number He has been forgotten – 3 times in Psalm 80 David cried out, “Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved;” and revival because one can find himself/herself in bondage – Ezra 9:8 says, “And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our Gods, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.”

Vance Havner, now deceased Southern Baptist prophet, wrote a little book entitled “Repent Or Else.” [pps. 14-16]. He wrote: “Revival is a work of the Spirit among God’s own people whereby they get right with God and with each other…Revivals should not be necessary…but so long as we have such a malarial brand of Christianity, a fever and a chill, a fever and a chill, we shall need revivals…The church needs time out to tune up. We are so busy building a bigger orchestra, that we cannot stop to tune our instruments…We never need to go to the mourner’s bench more than when we feel least like it. [Then quotes Finney]: ‘Revival is nothing less than a new beginning of obedience to God, a breaking of heart and getting down in the dust before Him with deep humility and obedience to God, a breaking of heart and getting down in the dust before Him with deep humility and forsaking of sin.”

And what did David say? “You are near, O Lord…” IN THE MIDDLE OF MY MESS, Our Lord is at hand. In the middle of our darkness, our Lord shines His Light. In the middle of our rebellious wanderings, our Lord finds us! “A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing; Our Helper He amid the floods of mortal ills prevailing.”

THERE’S THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES IN NEED OF CONFIDENCE AND ASSURANCE:

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m not sure I can make it. I’m not sure I can hold on. I’m not sure I can enter in. I’m not sure I can overcome. I’m not sure I can make it to the ‘finish’ line. I’m not sure.” But Psalm 121:1-2 says: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

Are you aware of the ‘infancy’ of Israel’s faith in God as they began to follow Him out of Egypt, into the wilderness, and on in to the promised land? There were times they said, “We wish we were back in Egypt!”

The pilgrim journey was new to them – “we’ve never passed this way before!” Spurgeon said: “…their newly found liberty was darkened by a terrible fear of RECAPTURE!” But listen to Exodus 13:20-22, “So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.”

What does Exodus 14:19 tell us? And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.”

In Hebrews 13:5 God Himself said: “I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.” Have you forgotten or overlooked God’s word to Joshua? Joshua 1:5 says, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”

Is that any different at all from Matthew 28:20 when Jesus said: “Lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.”

You may never see visibly a natural cloud that bursts into a flame, but because of God’s promises YOU CAN STAND ASSURED, “God Is With ME and His Power, Protection, Provision, Presence ABOUNDS TOWARD ME to see me through.”

Exodus 14:19 again? “And the Angel of God who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and STOOD BEHIND THEM!!” STOOD BEHIND THEM – STANDS BEHIND ME – STANDS BEHIND YOU!!

It’s settled from God’s point of view! It’s permanent from God’s side! It’s forever, a done deal! The Glorious Angel of God is permanently fixed, shrouded in the clouds of heavenly glory, with sword drawn in His hand. Isaiah 52:12 tells us: “For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”

[Please read Romans 8:31-32, 29-30, 37-39].

THERE’S THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES IMMERSED IN THE DEEP WATERS OF WORRY, DOUBT, OR FEAR:

Look with me at Philippians 4:6-7, 13, and 1:28! “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus….Verse 13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 1:28, And not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.”

Have you heard them? “I have God’s blessing as long as I am real positive. I have God’s blessing as long as I am really ‘spiritual’. I have God’s blessing as long as I am real up-beat, as long as I give the appearance of being strong. I have God’s blessing as long as I am a ‘super-saint’. I have God’s blessing as long as I am an extra-ordinary disciple. I have God’s blessing as long as my thoughts and affections are set on things above. I have God’s blessing as long as I’m walking in perfection.” NO!! A 1000 times, NO!

In Proverbs 3:5-6 we read, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Have you seen “The New 23^rd”? “Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need. He lets me rest in meadows green and leads me beside the quiet stream;…He keeps on giving life to me And helps me to do what honors Him the most, Even when walking through the valley of death, of death, I will never be afraid, For He is close beside me…Guarding, guiding all the way; He spreads a feast before me In the presence of my enemies [worry, doubt, fear!!]… He welcomes me as His special guest, With blessing overflowing, His goodness and unfailing kindness Shall be with me all of my life and afterward I will live with Him forever, in His Home.”

ALSO, IS THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES ISOLATED BY THE JUDGMENTS OF MEN:

Please come to Genesis 16:1-9, 13-14, Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.” So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence. Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” Verses 13-14, Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You-Are-The-God-Who-Sees;” for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; [Well of the One Who Lives and Sees Me!]…”

Do you know about ill-treatment, misjudgment, harsh and cruel renderings against you – the besmirching of your name, honor, character? What about the purloining of your good and godly reputation? Even Jesus was not exempt from this attitude or action!

Luke 6:7 says, “The scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely…THAT THEY MIGHT FIND AN ACCUSATION AGAINST HIM.” Jesus’ own family was saying, “He’s lost His senses!”

I want you to come with me to I Peter 3:13-17 because “the Lord is at hand” – He is so near to you as you are maligned, ridiculed, even lied about!! “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

Did Jezebel misjudge, threaten, and isolate Elijah? I Kings 19 says Elijah “arose and ran for his life…” He ran to the wilderness, ended up in a cave. Oh, but then, LISTEN!! I Kings 19:9, “…Behold, THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ELIJAH…Verse 11, Then God said to him, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And BEHOLD THE LORD PASSED BY!

Do you remember Jeremiah’s pilgrimage? The weeping prophet was being walloped! Look at Jeremiah 32:1-3, 31:3, 11-14, and Jeremiah 33:1-3!

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord; “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it..” Jeremiah 31:3, 11-14, The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you…Verses 11-14, For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord – for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 33:1-3, Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord id His name): Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

You’ll remember John on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1 imprisoned for the faith! YOU are going to be wronged, but “Look up! YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWS NEAR!” You will be misjudged! Get in the Spirit and hear God’s trumpet blow His rallying cry for your defense!

THERE IS THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES IN THE INTENSE BATTLES OF THE FAITH:

In 2 Chronicles 20 the people of Moab with others came to battle Jehoshaphat. He was afraid and began to seek the Lord, and Judah gathered together to seek Him. They knew they didn’t have the power to stand against their enemies so they set themselves together to seek God’s help. They “stood before the Lord” and cried out for His help. In verse 15 the Spirit of the Lord had come upon Jahaziel and he heard God speak: Thus says the Lord to you, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

Thank God for Isaiah 54:17 which tells us: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.

I love Deuteronomy 28:7 which tells us, “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face: they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.” SCATTERED AND SHATTERED BY GOD HIMSELF!

Do you remember the three young Israelites in the fiery furnace because they would not bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image? Daniel 3:24-25, we see and hear the king saying, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?…Look!! I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire: they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!!” WOW! In Daniel 6:22 Daniel had been cast into the lions’ den because of the battle of praying to God! “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouth, so that they have not hurt me…” GLORY!

Paul was in that “good fight of faith”! He told Timothy (2 Timothy 4:16-18), “At my fist defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

When Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah, Hezekiah gathered his people and gave them encouragement. 2 Chronicles 32:8 says, “With him is an arm of flesh: BUT WITH US IS THE LORD OUR GOD, TO HELP US AND TO FIGHT OUR BATTLES.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.”

And what did John say in I John 4:4? “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because HE WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAT HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD.”

THERE’S THE NEARNESS OF OUR LORD WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES SURROUNDED BY THE LITTLE FOXES THAT SPOIL THE VINEYARD:

Have you ever seen the “FOX” of envy or strife? Philippians 1:15-16 says, “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add afflictions to my chains.”

Have you ever seen the “FOX” of disinterest in the progress and joy of faith for others? Philippians 1:24-26 says, “Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith.” Paul never displayed disinterest in others’ spiritual progress – it was his heart and mind every day, every way, everywhere! But too many Christians exhibit disinterest in where other young believers are – there is no concern by them for your spiritual maturity.

Have you ever witnessed that “FOX” of disunity? Philippians 2:1-4 says, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

What about that “FOX” of unbelief, false doctrine, false worship? In Philippians 3:1-3, 18-19, we read: “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Verses 18-19, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame – who set their minds on earthly things.”

Have you ever been shocked by the “FOX” of pettiness between women? Look at Philippians 4:1-3, “Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. And I also urge you, true companions, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.” Consider “wild cat female kittens” at one another’s throat – watch out!

Have you ever been around that “FOX” of selfishness? That’s not the Philippians because we read in chapter four, verses 15-17, of THEIR unselfish support of Paul, but I remember a church financial secretary telling me on an occasion that she did not comprehend that the most vocal opposers, disrupters, antagonists in a church business meeting were always the ones who supported the church financially the least of all!

How does one raise up stones to break bones when the Lord is at hand? How does one center so much on themselves in selfish fashion when the Selfless Savior is at hand? How does one center so much on themselves allowing pettiness to permeate them when the Prince of Peace is present? How does “my way” or the highway rule some hearts when the Marvelous Master moves among us? How does unbelief and false doctrine get a foothold in some lives when the God of all Truth rules the day?

Here’s how Paul dealt with it. Listen carefully and prayerfully to his words in Philippians 3:7-16, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.Yet indeed I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upwards call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”

The last point in this chapter? THERE IS NEARNESS OF OUR LORD IN THE TIME OF OUR DEATH:

You do know! We are going to die! How about YOU reading Psalm 23 right now as a refresher course! The Nearness of our Lord even in our fallen state and nature! He’s drawn near to us! The Nearness of our Lord when we find ourselves in need of personal revival! He’s drawn near to us! The Nearness of our Lord when we find ourselves in need of confidence and assurance! He’s drawn near to us! The Nearness of our Lord when we are immersed in the deep waters of worry, doubt, or fear! He’s drawn near to us! The Nearness of our Lord when we are isolated by the judgments of men! He’s drawn near to us! The Nearness of our Lord when we are in intense battles of the faith! “The Lord stood with me!” The Nearness of our Lord when we find ourselves surrounded by the little foxes that spoil the vineyard! “I am with you, in your midst!” The Nearness of our Lord in the time of death! “You are with me, I’ll fear no evil!”

Is our Lord near us now? Remember Gethsemane? There Jesus knelt to pray, “Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from ME; NEVERTHELESS not My will, but Yours be done…And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood flowing to the ground.” WHY? “Because “I AM NEAR YOU AND FOR YOU!”

He was before Pontius Pilate, falsely accused, condemned by a thoughtless, truth-less crowd: “I take your condemnation, judgment, guilt, sins upon MYSELF, because “I AM NEAR YOU AND FOR YOU.”

Watch as He plods the streets, beaten unmercifully in the scourging, bleeding already profusely, carrying that “Old Rugged Cross” because “I AM NEAR YOU AND I AM FOR YOU.”

At this very moment He’s your Advocate, your Heavenly attorney, at the right hand throne of God, having pled your case before that eternal throne of the Most High God, because “I am near you and I am for you.”

When He comes in that heavenly cloud of glory, the second time, not as the suffering servant, but the conquering King of kings and Lord of lords, when that glorious trumpet sounds, you’ll hear Him say, “Because I’m near you and I am for you. Come on – let’s go to our eternal gathering together and to our eternal home!” AMEN?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“THE GOD OF THE PEOPLE?”

In Isaiah 40:18 there is a powerful question. It says, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare Him with?” Our God, Jehovah God, the one and ONLY TRUE AND LIVING GOD IS BEYOND COMPARISON! Would you try to compare Him to the world’s wealthiest man who holds in his little fingers the destinies and fortunes of corporations and crowds of employees?

In Isaiah 1:3 it says, “An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand.” And too many don’t know and don’t understand that He is the OWNER of it all! Haggai 2:8 says, “The silver is MINE, and the gold is MINE,” declares the Lord of hosts.

In Psalm 50:10 we read, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a 1000 hills.” Would you try to compare Him to the world’s wisest men who hold in their little fingers papers or degrees of their intellectual accomplishments?

I Corinthians 1:19-21 says, “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

There used to be a song we used to sing about that said something about God holding the whole world in His hands – and HE DOES!

In Isaiah 44:6 the Word speaks, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts; I am the first and the last, and there is no god besides Me…”

Rahab stood on her gift of revelation faith and said to Joshua [Joshua 2:11], “for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” And she rested her life on “the scarlet thread.” And it hasn’t changed.

2 Chronicles 6:14 declares, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart.”

I want to challenge you, if you haven’t been already, right now, with Isaiah 26:4 which says, “Trust in the Lord forever. For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.” And the God we serve is no respecter of persons or peoples: Deuteronomy 7:21 says, Moses speaking: “…the Lord your God is IN YOUR MIDST, a great and awesome God…”

Deuteronomy 10:17 tells us, “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe.” It gets better!

Look with me at Deuteronomy 32:3-4, [but let me insert first Deuteronomy 31:3 where Moses declared that, “It is the Lord your God who will cross before you!” Don’t be afraid! Moses then wrote a song in chapter 31, verse 19, that he tells them about, and we find it in the 32^nd chapter!] – Deuteronomy 32:3-4, “For I proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.”

And we also are on a journey, and there are new horizons before us all, even battles to be fought and heavenly reserves to draw upon in our most difficult and blessed moments! So, Psalm 70:4 says, “Let God be magnified!”

“THE GOD OF THE PEOPLE?” OUR GOD IS THE GOD OF ETERNAL, CREATIVE POWER: [Let me say to you, right now, that you don’t have to have full or complete understanding of a truth to stand upon it! Remember that!].

In Genesis 21:33 the Holy Word says, “And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the EVERLASTING GOD!”

God didn’t begin – HE IS, ALWAYS HAS BEEN, AND ALWAYS WILL BE! We read in Jeremiah 10:10, “But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.” Then come to verses 12-13, “It is He who made the earth by His power (don’t ever forget it!! Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created [made] the heaven and the earth” –In fact, in Hebrews 11:3 we read, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”),…who established the world by His wisdom; and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens…When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth: He makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from His storehouse.”

Psalm 100:3 declares, “KNOW that the Lord Himself is God: It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves…” Now,

Come to Isaiah 40:9-14, and 28-31! “O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up to the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, “BEHOLD YOUR GOD!” Behold the Lord shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has taught Him? With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? Verses 28-31, Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

And the meaning of what we’ve just read? “NEVER FORGET THE GOD OF ETERNAL, CREATIVE POWER!” This is why, in your spiritual journey, that 2 Corinthians 5:17 is so important! “Therefore, if ANY MAN is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; and behold, new things have come.” He said in Revelation 21:5, “And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things NEW!”

Ask the “born again” – New Life! Ask Peter after he failed – New Beginning! Ask parents who know – New children! Ask children who know – New Parents! Ask businessmen who lost it all – New Opportunity! Ask ones who know of fractured, broken marriages – New Grace, Holy Households! Ask nations once ruled by tyrants and dictators – New Nations with God As Their Lord!

The church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is to be the people who herald the “NEW HOPE”!! David Chilton wrote an exposition of Revelation entitled “Days of Vengence,” [pps. 547-548]. Listen to what he wrote about Revelation 21:5!! He said: “…The only essential difference between the subjects of 2 Corinthians 5 and Revelation 21 is that Paul is speaking of “the redeemed individual,” while John is speaking of “the redeemed community.” Both the individual and the community are recreated, renewed, and restored to Paradise in salvation, and this cosmic restoration has already begun. John sees that what has begun in seemingly (to the eyes of the first century) isolated instances is really the wave of the future. The new creation will fill the earth; the whole creation will be renewed. This is true definitively, it will be absolutely true eschatalogically – and it gives us the pattern for our work in between, for it is also to be worked out progressively. The New Creation must be unfolded, its every implication understood and applied, by the royal priesthood in this age…The great church historian Phillip Schaff understood this: ‘To the Lord and His kingdom belongs the whole world, with all that lives and moves in it. ALL is yours, says the apostle (ICorinthians 3:22). Religion is not a signal, separate sphere of human life, but the divine principle by which the entire man is to be pervaded, refined, and made complete. It takes hold of him in his undivided totality, in the center of his personal being; to carry light into his understanding, holiness into his will, and heaven into his heart; and to shed thus the sacred consecration of the new birth, and the glorious liberty of the children of God over his whole outward and inner life that may not be glorified. The creature, in the widest extent of the word, is earnestly waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, and sighing after the same glorious deliverance. The whole creation aims toward redemption; and Christ is the second Adam, the new universal Man, not simply in a religious but also in an absolute sense. The view entertained by Romish monasticism and Protestant pietism, by which Christianity is made to consist in an opposition to the natural life, or in ‘flight from the world,’ is quite contrary to the spirit and power of the Gospel, as well as false to its designs. Christianity is the redemption and renovation of the world. It must make all things new.” Can you say AMEN to that?

In Isaiah 42:5-9 we read, Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

And then Isaiah 45:18, 22-23 tells us, For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. Verses 22-23, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.” And, remember, as we’ve begun this study, we’ve seen THE GOD OF ETERNAL, CREATIVE POWER – at this given moment we need to bow before Him and declare our allegiance to Almighty God!

OUR GOD? OUR GOD IS THE GOD OF CONSTANT CALLING:

In Genesis 3:9 Satan had come and deceived Adam and Eve, and they rebelled and sinned, then realized their ‘nakedness’ before Holy God. Then they were feverishly ‘fig-leafing’ their lost and sinful condition, had hidden themselves, they thought, and then in verse 9, “Then the Lord God CALLED to the man, and said to him, “Where are you, Adam?”

I tell you, God is not blind. He knew where Adam was and what condition he was in spiritually. God said, “Adam, look where you are at this point in your life. Look at what disobedience has produced. Look at the absence of God from your life. Look at the end result of devilish deception and fleshly indulgence!”

Do you remember Hagar when God spoke to her in that isolated place? She said, (Genesis 16:13), “You are a God who sees.” And because He sees, He calls. In Ezekial 33:11 we read, “Say to them, ‘As I live!” declares the Lord God, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?”

We just saw in Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto Me, and be saved, all the earth: for I am God and there is none else.” Paul told Timothy (I Timothy 2:4) that God “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Notice, it’s God who takes the initiative! I Thessalonians 5:24 says, “Faithful is He who calls you.” It’s God who sends the prophets! It’s God who produces the beautiful feet of those that preach, witness, and bring glad tidings of good things. It’s God who inspires the songs of deliverance, salvation, and healing grace. It’s God who speaks through the partner or the parent or the child! It’s God who calls to us even in the crisis of circumstances. It’s the GOD-BREATHED WORD OF HOLY SCRIPTURE BY WHICH WE ARE TO LIVE! God does it!

In Deuteronomy 30:19 we read, God speaking, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” Don’t let it be said of you, Proverbs 1:24, “I called and you refused…”

And old hymn says it so clearly: “Jesus Calls Us,” written by Cecil F. Alexander. It says:

“Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult of our life’s wild, restless sea, Day by day His sweet voice soundeth, saying, ‘Christian, follow Me.’…Jesus calls us from the worship of the vain world’s golden store. From each idol that would keep us, saying, ‘Christian, love Me more.’…In our joys and in our sorrows, Days of toil and hours of ease, Still He calls us in cares and pleasures, ‘Christian, love ME more than these…Jesus calls us: by Thy mercies, Savior, may we hear Your call. Give our hearts to Your obedience, Serve and love You best of all.”

OUR GOD IS ALSO THE GOD OF CLEAR UNVEILING:

In Genesis 17:1-3 we read: “Now when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘I AM GOD ALMIGHTY; walk before Me and be blameless…And, I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.’ And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him…”

David said in Psalm 48:10, “As is Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth.” You’ll remember God coming to Isaac in the contentious land of the Philistines and saying to him, (Genesis 26:24), “I am the God of your father Abraham…”

To Jacob, God said, (Genesis 31:13), “I am the God of Bethel…” the God of encounter, anointing, and promise. And you’ll remember that Jacob had his name changed – “Israel of God” – and he was praying for Joseph with whom he had been reunited and in that prayer said, (Genesis 48:15),, “to the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day…”

In Joshua 24:19 Joshua called Him, “…the holy God, the jealous God.” And, yes, He is THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS, GOD MY HELPER, the sustainer of my soul, the God who works wonders, My Father – the rock of my salvation, God of our salvation, God our refuge and strength, The Lord – the God of Heaven, the Lord – your God, God of Israel!

Isaiah 9:6 says He is “the Child born, the Son given, upon whose shoulders the government rests – His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And how could anyone ever forget Matthew 1:21? “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Then in Matthew 22:32 we read: “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

JEHOVAH M’KADDESH (Sanctification), ROPHE (Healer), NISSI (Shepherd), SHALOM (Peace), JIREH (Provider), TSIDKENU (Righteousness), ROHI (SHEPHERD), SHAMMAH (Present).

Have you heard it before: (?) “Oh, that I may know Him…” And John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”

OUR GOD IS GOD OF CONTINUOUS CARE TO THE GREAT NEEDS OF FALLEN AND REDEEMED MANKIND:

Do you remember what Isaac asked his father on that mountain? “Father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Genesis 22:7-8, Abraham responded in faith and confidence: “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” He knew the heart of God and the promise of God – and he was sure!

What does 2 Corinthians 5:19 tell us? “God was ‘in Christ’ reconciling the world to Himself…” Are you reconciled to God? In verse 21 Paul wrote: “He (God) made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Catherine Marshall, in her book “Something More” (p.7), wrote: “Our God is the Divine Alchemist. He can take junk from the rubbish heap of life, and melting this base refuse in the pure fire of His love, hand us back – GOLD!” It is our salvation – the sustenance of the soul and spirit! LOOK AT HIS WORD! REJOICE AND RECEIVE!

Deuteronomy 8:2 He “led you in the wilderness…disciplining you.”

Deuteronomy 9:3 He “crosses over before you as a consuming fire,”

Deuteronomy 9:6 He “gives you a good land”

Deuteronomy 12:7 He “blessed you” Deuteronomy 12:9 “giving you the inheritance,” Deuteronomy 13:3 “testing you” Deuteronomy 20:4 “goes before you”

Joshua 1:13 “gives you rest”, Joshua 23:5 “promised you,” Joshua 23:10 “Fights for you”

I Samuel 9:8 “tells us our way, I Samuel 10:9, “changes the heart,” I Samuel 10:10, “comes upon us mightily,” 2 Samuel 22:48, “executes vengeance for me,”

I Kings 4:29, “gives wisdom,” I Kings 18:21 calls us to “Follow Him,” I Kings 18:24, “answers by fire,”

I Chronicles 4:10, “grants what we request,” I Chronicles 12:8, “helps you,” I Chronicles 14:11, “breaks through my enemies,”

2 Chronicles 9:8, “delights in you,” 2 Chronicles 25:8, “has power to help,” 2 Chronicles 26:5, “prospered him,”

Ezra 2:8, “hand of God is favorably disposed to all who seek Him,”

Nehemiah 7:5, “puts His will in our hearts,” Nehemiah 9:17, “God of forgiveness,” Nehemiah 13:2, “turns the curse into a blessing,” Nehemiah 13:26, “loved by God,”

Psalm 14:5, “with the righteous,” Psalm 18:28, “illumines my darkness,” Psalm 18:32, “girds with strength,” Psalm 43:2, He “is my strength,” Psalm 43:4, “my exceeding joy,” Psalm 43:5, “the help of my countenance,” Psalm 46:1, “my refuge,” Psalm 49:5, “redeems my soul,” Psalm 50:2, He “shines forth,” Psalm 53:6, “Restores His captive people,” Psalm 56:9, “for me,” Psalm 57:2, “accomplishes all things,” Psalm 60:2, “Through our God we shall do valiantly,” Psalm 62:11, “power belongs to God,” Psalm 71:5, “my confidence,” Psalm 71:7, He “taught me,” Psalm 77:14, “works wonders,” Psalm 84:11,” a sun and a shield,” Psalm 86:15, “merciful and gracious,”

Ecclesiastes 3:14, “whatever God does will remain,”

Isaiah 5:16, “shows Himself,” Isaiah 40:1, “comforts His people,” Isaiah 40:3, “in the desert a highway for our God,” Isaiah 40:10, “comes with might,” Isaiah 50:4, “gives me the tongue of disciples to know how to sustain the weary one with a word,” Isaiah 51:22, “contends for the people,” Isaiah 62:5, “rejoices over me,”

Daniel 2:28, “reveals to His people,” Daniel 3:17, “able to deliver us,”

Amos 7:1, “shows me,”

Luke 1:78 revealed “the tender mercy of God,” Luke 7:16, “visited His people,” Luke 8:39, “done great things for us,” Luke 16:15, “knows our hearts,”

Acts 10:41, “chosen beforehand – verse 42, appointed by God,”

Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 15:5, “gives perseverance,” Romans 15:13, “fills us,” Romans 15:33, gives “peace,” Romans 16:20, “crush Satan,”

I Corinthians 10:13, “faithful,” I Corinthians 15:28, our “all in all,”

2 Corinthians 1:9, “raises the dead,” 2 Corinthians 9:8, “able to make all grace to abound toward you,”

Philippians 2:13, “at work in you,”

Colossians 4:12, “assured in all the will of God,”

I Thessalonians 2:4, “approved by God,”

Ephesians 1:6, “accepted in the beloved,”

Hebrews 2:4, “bears witness with us,”

James 4:8, “draws near to us,”

2 Timothy 4:17-18, “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men…” Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

And then I tell you, it is not a trite verse but the center of all glorious truth, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

And, then, Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” AMEN?

OUR GOD IS THE GOD OF THE “BURNING BUSHES” ALONG LIFE’S JOURNEY:

In Exodus 3:1-6 we read: Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of God appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near to this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.”

And then in Deuteronomy 5:22-24 there are awesome words of hope! “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.”

Creation itself is a ‘burning bush’ – Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God: and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”

The two tablets of stone by the finger of God is a ‘burning bush’ – Psalm 19:7-8 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple…The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”

The Prophetic Word is ‘a burning bush’ – “Thus says the Lord…”

The cross of Christ is a ‘burning bush’ – Romans 5:8, “God proved His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Holy Spirit’s presence in us is a ‘burning bush’ – John said when Jesus came (Matthew 3:11), “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Do you remember? There was the “burning bush” in Genesis 3:8 when Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” and they HEARD HIS CALL! It got their attention!

There was the “burning bush” in Genesis 12 when a pagan man in a pagan land heard the divine command and obediently “went forth as the Lord had spoken to him.”

There was the “burning bush” in the isolation of ‘escapism’ in the midst of broken rlationships when (Genesis 28:12) Jacob saw a ladder, heard a voice, and declared “Surely the Lord in in this place, and I did not know it.”

There was the “burning bush” of a prophetic finger when David learned: “You’re the guilty man who needs to be reconciled to God.”

There was the “burning bush” of the ‘second chance’ when Jesus appeared to the distraught Peter who had bungled badly his oath of allegiance.

There was the “burning bush” of an obedient Phillip who went to the backside of a desert to witness and proclaim Christ to a confused yet hungry Ethiopian.

There was the “burning bush” of a flashing light on the Damascus Road that humbled Saul of Tarsus and changed him to a Paul the Apostle. [Examine Psalm 139:1-18!!].

OUR GOD IS THE GOD OF THE SINGING SYMPHONIES OF PRAISE:

Psalm 40:1-3 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord: and He inclined to me and heard my cry…He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay: and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm…And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God: Many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

Yes, the Word speaks of the songs of God in I Chronicles 16:42! Daniel Webster said to have HYMNED is to have SUNG, PRAISED, OR CELEBRATED IN SONG! Psalm 47:6 says, “Sing praises to God, sing praises: Sing praises to our King, sing praises!” In Psalm 69:30 the psalmist says, “I will praise the name of God with song, and shall magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

Have you ever considered it? Why is there such a vast storehouse of Gospel Music all over the world in the Christian faith but in other ‘religions’ there is little if none?

And there is an answer! Religions are of the ‘head’ while the Christian Faith is of the heart! True salvation births “new songs”! God’s sustenance and faithfulness overflows into our celebrations! A filling and anointing in the Holy Spirit of the Almighty erupts into “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with our hearts TO THE LORD.” Just consider the awesomeness of Handel’s “Messiah”!!

Psalm 146:2 says, “I will praise the Lord while I live: I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” [Look at Psalm 150!!].

OUR GOD IS THE GOD OF SMITTEN SALVATION:

In Isaiah 52:13-53:12 we read, “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. Isaiah 53:1-12, Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground, He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked – but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

What does I Corinthians 1:18 tell us? “The word of the Cross…(is what?)…THE POWER OF GOD!!”

“Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt…Yonder on Calvary’s Mount outpoured – there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt…Sin and despair, like the sea-waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss: Grace that is greater – Yes, grace untold – points to the refuge, the mighty Cross…Dark is the stain that we cannot hide – what can avail to wash it away? Look! There is flowing a crimson tide – whiter than snow you may be today…Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe! You that are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive?…Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.”

So Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they are red like crimson they will be like wool…”

OUR GOD ALSO IS THE GOD OF THE SPOKEN WORD:

In Isaiah 46:5-11 we read, “To whom will you like Me, and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; they prostrate themselves, yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it and set it in its place, and it stands; from its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’ Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.”

God spoke to men like an Abram and a Moses. He spoke to nations like Israel. He, yes, spoke to pagan kings like Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar. He spoke to cities like Nineveh. God spoke in certain times and seasons. He’s even spoken in circumstances or events we all face at times. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

We have the promise of Jesus in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I WILL COME TO YOU.” In 2 Samuel 7:29 David said excitedly, “…For You, O Lord God, have spoken: and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”

In Numbers 24 God met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and sent him to Balak. And, in verse 19, when he met him he said: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Sometimes it’s “the seven peals of thunder,” that have spoken. (Revelation 10:4). Psalm 60:6 says, “God has spoken in His sanctuary.” Isaiah 1:20 affirms it, “Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

And then in Jeremiah 25:3 we read, “I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.” Are you listening? Are your ears tuned to hear God speak?

A failure to listen for God to speak to you is tragically what Oswald Chambers called “incarnate unbelief,” which means one has no faith, is god unto himself, is guided by personal feelings, and shutting the door in the face of God. This is not the day nor the time, really not ever, to shut God out of your life or ministry! Look to Him, listen for His voice, and rest in His Sovereign leadership and guidance – yes, hear Him speak to you!

Ezekial heard God!! In Ezekial 5:13 we read, “…then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.” Then, Paul, in I Thessalonians 2:13 wrote, “…we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which performs its work in you who believe.”

And what did Paul say to Timothy? “ALL Scripture is GOD-BREATHED!!” Do you accept Jesus’ word? Matthew 4:4 says: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

“Holy Bible, book divine, precious treasure, you are mine; Mine to tell me from where I came, mine to teach me what I am…Mine to chide me when I rove; mine to show a Savior’s love; Mine you are to guide and guard, mine to punish or reward… Mine to comfort in distress, suffering in this wilderness, mine to show by living faith, man can triumph over death…Mine to tell of joys to come, and the rebel sinner’s doom, O Thou Holy Book divine, precious treasure, YOU ARE MINE.”

OUR GOD IS THE GOD ON FINAL, EARTHLY SUMMATION AND FULL, ETERNAL GLORY:

In Ephesians 1 Paul talked about the WORK AND WILL OF GOD, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of us all! He said: Ephesians 1:3, “He’s “blessed us,” Verse 4, He’s “chosen us,” Verse 5, He’s “predestined us to adoption,” Verse 7, He’s “redeemed us through His blood,” Verse 8, He’s “lavished upon us the riches of His grace.” Then…

In Ephesians 1:9-12 we read, “He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him…(LISTEN!)…with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things in the earth…In Him…also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestine3d according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will…to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ, should be to the praise of His glory.”

There is such a strong, powerful, illuminating word in Colossians 1:18 which says: “…that in all things He [Jesus!] might have the preeminence!

Our lives are to be summed up in Christ! Our marriages are to be summed up in Christ! As parents we are to so live and teach our children that their lives also are summed up in Christ! Your business and work ethic are to be summed up in Christ! Your friendship relationships are to be summed up in Christ! Your visions, dreams, goals, aims, aspirations are to be summed up in Christ!

Does Jesus reign in your heart and in your home and in your work-a-day world?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“WHO ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD?”

I want you to come to Ezekial 36 first. We’ll share together verses 22-28, and then Ezekial 37:24-28, and then Hebrews 8:1-2, 6, 10.

Ezekial 36:22-28, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,’ says the Lord God, ‘when I m hallowed in you before your eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”

Ezekial 37:24-28, “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Hebrews 8:1-2, 6, 10, “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. Verse 6, But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Verse 10, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

When you think about those who were not a people but now they are, when you think about those who were void in mercy but now filled with it, and when you think about those who had no abiding name but now they do, what do you say of them?

They’re called “the believers of the faith, saving faith,” “the Body of Christ,” “the Army of God,” “the soldiers of the Cross,” “the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ,” “the baptized ones,” “the Covenant crowd,” “the Christ-tians,” “the followers of the Way,” “the Born-again-ners,” “the sheepfold,” “the children of the Way,” “the children of Light,” “Wisemen,” “the Promised Bride,” “the Brotherhood of Love,” “the Israel of God,” “the sons of Promise,” “the citizens of the Kingdom,” “the Family of Faith,” “the branches of the True Vine,” “God’s Household,” “a habitation of God through the Spirit…”

But I like that holy covenant of Promise Word we just read, Ezekial 36:28, “So you will be My people, and I will be your God!” In Scripture, you’ll find “My People,” “Your people,” “His people,” “the people of the Lord,” “the people of His pasture,” “the flock of His people,” “Your great people,” “Your own people,” “the people of the God of Abraham,” “Your people called by Your Name.”

Samuel said in I Samuel 12:22b, “…the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.” But you do realize that there are multitudes of people who have no desire at all to be the people of God.

Jude 12 speaks of those “caring for themselves,” and Genesis 11:4 speaks of those whose all-consuming life passion is to “make a name for ourselves,” a people of the world who’ve been squeezed into its mold, a people who think only of flesh, the temporal, and not of the Spirit or the Eternal!

But then there are “the people of God”! Who are they?

You’ll remember Exodus 32 and 33 and the “golden calf” madness of a people who rode “side-saddle” on the calf of deception, idolatry, and spiritual foolishness. And they heard from God, “I’ll see that you get to the land I promised you, but I will not go up in your midst.” And our God will never be with our deceptions, idolatries, or our spiritual foolishnesses!!

But THEY humbled themselves, and Moses interceded: Exodus 33:15-16, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all other people who are upon the face of the earth?” Who ARE these “distinguished” People of God?

IT IS THOSE WHO LIVE IN “THE REST” THAT THEY ARE CHOSEN OF GOD:

In Deuteronomy 7:6 Moses said, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God: the Lord your God HAS CHOSEN YOU to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

Psalm 33:12 says, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.” I would remind you of what Paul said to the church at Rome, (Romans 3:10-11), “As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no not one…there is none who understands, there is none who seeks after or for God.”

But if now there are those ‘seekers for God,’ what happened? In Jeremiah 31:3 the prophet tells us, “The Lord appeared to me from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

Do you remember John 6:44? Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” He said later in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I CHOSE YOU.”

In Revelation 17 it says that there will be those who “wage war against the Lamb.” It’s the way it has been and the way it will be! But also it says in verse 14, “and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, [LISTEN!}, and those who are with Him (in Victory) are the CALLED, and CHOSEN, and FAITHFUL.”

So in Colossians 3:12-15 Paul says to us: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put o love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

Then, in Hosea 2:19-20, 23 we read, “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. Verse 23, Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are MY PEOPLE!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

THE PEOPLE OF GOD? THOSE WHO IN REPENTANCE ARE BROUGHT TO HIM:

In Luke 1:17 we read, “And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous: so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

John the Baptist was raised up with the ministry of repentance. Jeremiah was a major Old Testament prophet of repentance! In Jeremiah 5:3 he spoke: “O Lord, do not Your eyes look upon truth (and for truth)? You have smitten them, but they did not weaken. You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock: they have refused to repent.”

John, in Matthew 3:2, began his ministry, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus, then, in Mark1:14-15, came “preaching the gospel of God,” saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe [or trust in, rely upon] the gospel.”

Before His ascension, in Luke 24:47, Jesus commissioned His disciples “that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed on the basis of His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Paul, to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:21, stated he testified to both “Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do you remember when Peter went before the elders in Jerusalem about Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit? When he explained the elders glorified God saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life!”

Look at 2 Corinthians 7:9-11! Paul said: “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

THE PEOPLE OF GOD? THOSE WHO ARE JOYOUSLY REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB:

In Matthew 1:21 we read, “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” And do you remember when the mouth of Zacharias was opened that he prophesied? Luke 1:68 says, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people.”

Peter later said, I Peter 1:18-19, “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers…but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Redeemed, not by religious activities, but by the blood of Christ. Redeemed, not by valiant attempts to live by the Golden Rule, but by the blood of Christ. Redeemed, not by consecrated devotion to the traditional teachings of men, but by the blood of Christ. Redeemed, not by manly attempts to live a moral life, but by the blood of Christ.

Titus 2:14 tells us, “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

Jesus was and is “the merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [Hebrews 2:17]. Then, Hebrews 13:12 tells us, “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people THROUGH HIS OWN BLOOD, suffered outside the gate.”

THE PEOPLE OF GOD? THOSE WHO ARE JUSTIFIABLY RECONCILED TO GOD:

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-19 we read, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Did it say “reconciled us to Himself through Christ”? And he said it not once but twice! “RECONCILED”? There are two words here: ALLASSO, “to change, alter, exchange,” and KATA, “according to”. That’s ‘according to’ HIMSELF! He changes us, alters us, exchanges us “according to” JESUS!

We are reconciled to His PERSON – “we shall be like Him.” We are reconciled to His PURPOSE – “…saved us and called us with a holy calling…(2 Timothy 1:9) I Peter 4:2 says, “…live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” We are reconciled to His POWER – I Corinthians 1:24, “Christ, the power of God…” In His prayer for the Ephesian church Paul prayed, (Ephesians 1:19), that they might know “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” We’re not the impotent – we’re the empowered; we’re not the addled – we’re the anointed; We’re not the empty – we’re the FILLED IN ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the truth that the word of the Cross of Christ IS the very power of God. [I Corinthians 1:18].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. [I Corinthians 2:4].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the faith that rests not on the wisdom of men but on the power of God. [I Corinthians 2:5].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the truth for our raising up through power. [I Corinthians 6:14].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the surpassing greatness of the power that is of God and not of ourselves. [2 Corinthians 4:7].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the truth that though we know we are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him and in Him because of the power directed toward us. [2 Corinthians 13:2].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the truth of the working of His power. [Ephesians 3:7].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the power of His resurrection. [Philippians 3:10].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the truth that we have been strengthened with all power according to His glorious might. [Colossians 1:11].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the truth of the glory of His power. [2 Thessalonians 1:9].

“In Christ” we are those who know and live by the power of His indestructible Life. [Hebrews 7:16].

“In Christ” we are protected by the power of god. [I Peter 1:5]. So, Revelation 19:1 says: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” – and to Him we have been reconciled!!

THE PEOPLE OF GOD? THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ROYALLY BLESSED BY OUR FATHER-GOD:

Psalm 144:15 says, “How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!” Then in Psalm 67:7 the psalmist said, “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

The first two verses of Psalm 67 says: “God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us – that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all the nations.”

If you haven’t read Ephesians lately, you need to be blessed by Ephesians 1:3 where Paul said that God has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” BLESSED US?

He’s blessed us because we’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 22:14. He’s blessed us because our hope is only in Him, Titus 2:13. He’s blessed us because we’re of the faith of Abraham, Galatians 3:9. He’s blessed us because we’ve been willing to be reviled for the name of Christ, I Peter 4:14. He’s blessed us because we died “in the Lord,” Revelation 4:13.

I love Deuteronomy 28:6 which says, We’re “blessed when we came in, and blessed when we go out!” And then in Verse 8 it says that God even commands the blessing! Glory!

Disciples of Christ are not foolish fanatics but faithful men and women who’ve become devoted to Holy God because of His undeniable loyalty to His servants! He’s “blessed us” and He keeps on “blessing”!

THE PEOPLE OF GOD? THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN RELEASED IN THE FULLNESS OF HIS HEAVENLY AUTHORITY:

In John 20:21 Jesus said, “Peace be with you: AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME, I ALSO SEND YOU.” Is that a call to a few or a calling for ALL His chosen disciples?

Revelation 1:5-6 tells us, “…To Him who loves us, and has released us from our sins, by His blood…and He has MADE US TO BE A KINGDOM, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

One of the great theological differences of men’s ministries is when the kingdom of God begins. For some it’s future while for others it is present, NOW. Let’s look at the Word!!

I Timothy 1:17 says, “Now to the King Eternal (of the ages), immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Then, in I Timothy 6:15 Paul called Jesus “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”

And then John, in Revelation 1:9 gives us insight: “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and the kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus…” Is that clear to you? THE KINGDOM IS IN JESUS!! Then our Lord, in Luke 10:19 tells us, “Behold, I give you authority…” Then boldly in Romans 5:17 Paul illumines us more: “…much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will REIGN IN LIFE through the One, Jesus Christ.”

Did that say “reign in life” or reign when you get to heaven someday? To the Ephesians, Ephesians 3:10-11, Paul wrote: “grace was given…[LISTEN!]…in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places…This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which God carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What about what Jesus had to day about all disciples, then and now? In Luke 12:32 our Lord and Master said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to GIVE YOU THE KINGDOM.” That’s THE KINGDOM OF GOD, THE KINGDOM RULE, THE KINGDOM AUTHORITY, THE KINGDOM PURPOSE AND PLAN, THE KINGDOM PROVISIONS AND POWER!

Didn’t He teach us to pray: “…YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ‘ON EARTH’ [in the here and now] AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.” GLORY!!

Jesus calls you in Christ “the salt of the earth,” “lights on the hills,” the Ezras and Nehemiahs building greater cities than old Jerusalem – we’re ushering in the New Jerusalem! And Daniel 11:32 says, “…the people who know their God will display strength and take action…” Tell me about your personal ‘game plan’ in helping Jesus Christ change the world!

Daniel 12:3 says, “And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Then in Daniel 7:13-14, “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”

Isaiah saw it! And he cried out: “Here am I! Send me!” God said, “Go, and tell this people!” And with that heavenly authority, we are His witnesses, we are “Kingdom” ambassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ!

THE PEOPLE OF GOD? THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ORDAINED AS TRUE WORSHIPPERS OF THE ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD:

Isaiah 43:21 says, “The people whom I have formed for Myself will declare My praise.” It was the psalmist, in Psalm 102:18, who said, “Let this be written for the generation to come; that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.”

Oh, I pray Jesus’ words in John 4:21-24 will truly speak to your heart and open it wide to worship and praise the Living God! It says: Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Our Lord said in Luke 19:40, “I tell you, if these (disciples) become silent, the stones will cry out!” The angels bless the Lord (Psalm 103:20). Even “the morning stars sing together for joy” – symphonies of praise to our God.

Why were the “Pharisees” so “in the face” of the disciples and so opposed to their joyful praising of Jesus? I like Arthur Pink’s definition of worship and it explains the void within the Pharisees and scribes. [It’s in his volume on John, p.208], “Worship is a redeemed heart occupied with God, expressing itself in adoration and thanksgiving.”

The Pharisees and scribes were devoted to print – disciples were devoted to the Prince!

The Pharisees and scribes were devoted to the page – disciples were devoted to the Author!

The Pharisees and scribes were devoted to the scroll and their interpretation of it – disciples were devoted to the Spirit of it and their need of Christ the Savior!

In closing this chapter, do you remember when the Word of God was rediscovered in the reign of Josiah, how it was read in his presence, and how he tore his cloths at the reading of the Word of God? Why? Because he knew that there was such a vast difference in what he heard and what he knew he and his people were or did or did not do! He was heart-broken!

Listen to me! “In Christ” we’re the people of God. We’re the Church, the Body of Christ, the fellowship of the believers – that’s those who are to BE the People of God. And yet too often there is such a difference in what we hear and know and what we do!

So what does God say? II Chronicles 7:14 says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Paul really nailed it down for us when in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 he wrote: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

How could a believer forget Jeremiah 2:32? “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number?” But we’ll not be those who forget – we’ll be those who fill Heaven with praise and adoration! We’ll not be those who wilt – we’ll be those who worship with great passion and fidelity! We’ll not be those drifting into complacency and indifference – we know Him, love Him, and will serve Him faithfully. We’ll not be those who look and act like unbelievers – we’re those who are “Living Stones,” true memorials to our Lord and Savior! We’ll not be those who are silent – we’ll sing His High Praises and make joyful sounds of true devotion to Christ Jesus!

Oh, don’t miss this: I Peter 2:9-10, “But YOU are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Glory!!

I close this chapter with words from Habakkuk 3: 17-19, “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls – yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

“The People of God”? That’s those who have come to God’s open door to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of our Lord Jesus Christ”!! That’s those who say with Paul, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and, yes, even the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

“ENTER HIS GATES?”

It’s one of the greatest statements of faith found anywhere in the Word of God. It’s one of the most loved Psalms, Psalm 100: “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!…Serve the Lord with gladness…Come before His presence with singing…Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves…We are His people and the sheep of His pasture…ENTER INTO HIS GATES with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise…Be thankful to Him, and bless His name…For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.”

And His “enduring truth” still says to us, “ENTER HIS GATES”! In Luke 13:23-24 one said to Jesus, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And Jesus said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” What an awesome encouragement and warning!

Psalm 122:1-2 is entitled “A Song of Assents” – and I would ask you, are you ascending into the “gates of the Lord”?

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!”

Bill Bennett, in his book, “The Book of Virtues,” [Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993, pps.479-480] included Henry van Dyke’s “Doors of Daring.” It says, “The mountains that inclose the vale with walls of granite, steep and high, Invite the fearless foot to scale their stairway toward the sky…The restless, deep, diving sea that flows and foams from shore to shore, calls to its sunburned chivalry, ‘Push out, set sail, explore!’…The bars of life at which we fret, that seem to prison and control, Are but the doors of daring, set ajar before the soul… Say not, “Too poor,” but freely give; Sigh not, “Too weak,” but boldly try; you never can begin to live until you dare to die.”

And Jesus our Lord straightforwardly declares: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.” The steps of Jesus led Him straight to Jerusalem for an appointment with death!

There was a physical sacred city called the city of God, Jerusalem; also called the holy city. And just as God ordained its building with “gates,” what He did then He has done now. The “holy city” of the Spirit has “gates” they’re not “doors of daring”, but “doors of dependence”! They’re not gates of timbers and iron, but gates of eternal truth and heavenly inspiration and instruction!

We know what God had to say to Obadiah about Edom and Esau because we saw in the Word “The Advancing Amalek Army.” But we also need to learn of “the reasons of God’s judgment.” Listen to Obadiah 10-11, 13: “For your violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever…In the day that you stood on the other side – In the day that strangers carried captive his forces, When foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem – Even you were as one of them…Verse 13, You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.”

Will you stand within the gates of grace or will you be a violator, a foreigner, a stranger standing within the gates of judgment? What did Jesus say? “…for many, I say to you, will seek to enter (the straight and narrow) gate, AND WILL NOT BE ABLE!!”

Edgar Guest wrote “The Things That Haven’t Been Done Before.” It says: “The things that haven’t been done before, Those are the things to try; Columbus dreamed of an unknown shore At the rim of the far-flung sky,

And his heart was bold and his faith was strong as he ventured in dangers new, and he paid no heed to the jeering throng or the fears of the doubting crew.

The many will follow the beaten track With guideposts on the way. They live and have lived for ages back with a chart for every day.

Someone has told them it’s safe to go On the road he has traveled o’er, And all that they ever strive to know Are the things that were known before.

A few strike out, without map or chart, Where never a man has been, From the beaten paths they draw apart To see what no man has seen.

There are deeds they hunger alone to do; Tho’ battered and bruised and sore, They blaze the path for the many, who do nothing not done before.

The things that haven’t been done before Are the tasks worthwhile today; Are you one of the flock that follows, or Are you one that shall lead the way?

Are you one of the timid souls that quail at the jeers of a doubting crew, Or dare you, whether you win or fail, Strike out for a goal that’s new?”

I want you to know there is the goal of a new and living way – it’s the gates of God that lead to His eternal life and His eternal day. What did Psalm 100:4 tell us? “Enter His gates with thanksgiving…”

In Ezekial 43:5-12 the prophet tells us: “The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Then I hear Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places. When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. Son of man, describe the temple of the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and perform them. This is the law of the temple: The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.” [Did you notice: “its exits and its entrances”?]

Now come with me to Nehemiah 3=

Let’s LOOK AT THE LAMB’S GATE: Nehemiah 3:1, Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and hung its doors…”

We certainly are His people and the sheep of His pasture, but to enter the Holy City, there is only one way! In John 10:7 we read, Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” Again, in verse 10 our Lord said, “I AM THE DOOR. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” Remember, it’s called the “Sheep Gate,” or the “Lamb’s Gate.”

In Exodus 12:3-8, 21, we read: “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assemble of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Verse 21 then says: Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, AND KILL THE PASSOVER LAMB.”

And you’re unsure about the identity of the “Passover Lamb”? In Isaiah 53:7-11 we read “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was ‘led as a lamb’ to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken, And they made His grave with the wicked – but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” Its verification?

In John 1:29 the Word of God says: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!”

In Revelation 12 John informs us about the ‘great dragon’ and our war with the Devil or Satan, and then in Verse 11 informs us: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Don’t take lightly your own spiritual warfare with the powers of darkness but, at the same time, rest in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world that Revelation 13:8 tells us about: “All who dwell on the earth will worship him [that’s yielded to and devoted to the Devil himself] whose names have not been written in [God’s] Book of Life of the Lamb…”

Revelation 14:1 tells us, “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” And they are busy preparing for the “wedding” of the Lamb and Is Bride! Revelation 19:7 tells us, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” WOW!

The “Lamb’s Gate”? That’s entrance to God’s City of “Rest”! Matthew 11:28-29 says: Jesus speaking, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Charles Spurgeon, in his Memorial Library series, “Spurgeon’s Sermons, [Vol. 13, pps 311-312], wrote: “The gospel of Jesus Christ is intended as a refuge for those who have broken the law of God, whom vengeance is pursuing, who will certainly be overtaken, to their eternal destruction, unless they fly to Christ and find shelter in Him. Outside of Christ the sword of fire pursues us swift and sharp. From God’s wrath there is bout one escape, and that is by a simple faith in Christ. Believe in Him, and the sword is sheated, and the mercy and the love of God will become your everlasting portion; but refuse to believe in Jesus, and your innumerable sins, written in His book, shall be laid at your door in the day when the pillars of heaven shall reel, and the stars shall fall like withered fig-leaves from the tree.”

The “Lamb’s Gate”? That’s the entrance to God’s City of our eternal home!

It’s “a promised home” – John 14:2 says, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.” Paul clarifies it to the Philippians and us when in Philippians 3:20 he wrote: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

It’s “a permanent home” – Philippians 3:21 says, “WHO WILL (might, maybe, possibly?) transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body,…”

It’s “a prosperous home” – Revelation 21:21 says, “And the twelve gates of heaven were twelve pearls (priceless): each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”

It’s “a pleasurable home” – Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

The “Lamb’s Gate”? That’s the entrance to God’s City of abundant provisions! Doesn’t Philippians 4:19 tell us, “And my God SHALL SUPPLY all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

The “Lamb’s Gate”? That’s the entrance to God’s City of separation from all that is behind us! Judges 2:1 says, “Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, “I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers.” Oh, and listen carefully, thankfully: God leads US up from the world, from bondage, from sin and death, from a meaningless existence, from hollowness and helplessness, from the deception of the fruit of good and evil to the eternal fruit of one tree of hope and help of an empty tomb!

Let’s look at THE FISH GATE: Nehemiah 3:3 says: Also the sons of Hassenaah built the FISH GATE; they laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars.” So.. what significance does that have for us today?

In Matthew 4:19 Jesus is calling His first disciples, saying to them, and us: “Follow Me, And I will make you [to become] FISHERS OF MEN!!”

In Romans 10:12-15 we read: “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’”

Gabriel Marcel said: “Conversion is the act by which one is called to be a witness!!” Isn’t that what the Resurrected Christ told His disciples just before His ascension? Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Come to Acts 8! Acts 8:4 says, “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” ‘Preaching’ is the Greek word: evangelidzo!! That’s evangelizing, sharing the Word, sharing the faith, reaching out in the name of Christ Jesus!

Acts 8:5 says, “Then Phillip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.” The word ‘preached’ here is the Greek word, KERUSSO, or “to herald,” “to blow the trumpet.”

Acts 8:6 says, “And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Phillip…” The word ‘spoken’ is the word “LEGO” or conversationally speaking to another!

Acts 8:25 says, “So when they had testified…” That word ‘testified’ is the Greek word ‘MARTUREO’ meaning “bearing witness to a fact you know about even to giving up your life if needed.”

Are you getting this beautiful picture? Deuteronomy 12:3 says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.” It’s why the wiseman of Proverbs said, Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”

Again, “Conversion is the act by which one is called to be a witness!” Psalm 126:5-6 says, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy…He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing Bringing his sheaves with him.” IT HASN”T CHANGED! “RESCUE THE PERISHING!!”

Let’s look at “THE OLD GATE”: the Farrell Fisher translation? “The ANCIENT Gate”!

Nehemiah 3:6 tells us: “Moreover Jehoida the son of Paseah and Meshullum the son of Besodeiah repaired the OLD GATE; they laid its beams and hung its doors, with its bolts and bars.” [Just a question since I’m fast approaching the age of 78!! “What’s so bad about the ‘old’ or ‘the ancient’?]

In Jeremiah 6:16 we read, THUS SAYS THE LORD: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘WE WILL NOT WALK IN IT.’” Later, in Jeremiah 18:15 God spoke again, “Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, from the ancient paths, to walk in pathways and not on a highway…” [Could that be no desire to walk on God’s “Highway of Holiness?”] What is “The Old Gate”?

That’s the “ANCIENT GATE OF THE SOVEREIGN RULE OF HIM WHO IS CALLED THE ANCIENT OF DAYS! Daniel 7:9-10 says, “I watched till thrones were put in place, and THE ANCIENT OF DAYS was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire…A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened.”

That’s the “ANCIENT GATE OF THE APPOINTED KINGDOM RULE OF HIS HEAVENLY SON!

Daniel 7:13-14, 18, says: “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him before near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. Verse 18, “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.”

That’s the “ANCIENT GATE OF PROMISED VICTORY FOR THE SAINTS!

Daniel 7:21-22, 26-27 says: “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them,…until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. [But the beast arises, “speaking pompous words against the Most High,…persecuting the saints of the Most High…intending to change times and law”]. Verses 26-27, “But the court shall be seated And they shall take away the beast’s dominion, to consume and destroy it forever…Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”

Oh, yes, there is another Gate!! IT’S “THE VALLEY GATE”! Nehemiah 3:13 speaks of “the low place”. It speaks of the gate or the way of humility!

In Philippians 2:3-8 we read, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

For “proud societies” I know it’s difficult but James 4:10 tells us, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” And God’s vision is not impaired!

I Peter 5:5-6 says, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud; but He gives grace to the humble.’…Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”

How powerful and liberating and challenging and convicting is the Word of God!! 2 Chronicles 7:14, “humble yourselves and pray – God answers! Psalm 10:17, God hears the desires of the humble. Psalm 25:9, God teaches the humble His way. Psalm 34:2, The humble hear and they rejoice. Psalm 37:11 The humble inherit the land. Proverbs 29:23 The humble obtain honor. Luke 1:52 God exalts the humble. James 4:6 God gives grace to the humble. James 4:10, God lifts up the humble.

What about in Nehemiah 3:14 the “repairing of the REFUSE GATE”?

Do you remember Exodus 12 and the preparations for Passover? Exodus 12:15 says, “..On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” What is the Word telling us about “refuse”?

In I Corinthians 5:8 there is a word about “the leaven of malice and wickedness.” If you look at Verse 7 it speaks of “clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

Paul’s word to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:20-22 is so on target, not only for youth worldwide, but on target for all! “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself for the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, and prepared for every good work. Flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Do you know and understand what the will of God is for your life? In I Thessalonians 4:3 Paul said, “For this is the WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION; that you should abstain from sexual immorality.” The word “sanctification” is a word that fundamentally tells us we are “set apart” for the honor and glory of God alone, set apart for His usefulness in kingdom allegiance!

It’s why in I Thessalonians 4:7 Paul said, “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.” We cleanse ourselves because “in Christ” we serve, represent, and honor the King of kings and Holy God. But beyond what we just read, what about what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7:1? “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

We cleanse ourselves because we’re called with a high and holy calling. We cleanse ourselves because we possess a holy hope – being like Him. We cleanse ourselves because of our ministries of salt and light. We cleanse ourselves so Christ feels at home in us. We cleanse ourselves because cleanliness in Spirit is better than dirtiness of the flesh. Next Gate?

There is “The FOUNTAIN GATE”: Nehemiah 3:15, “ Shallun..repaired the Fountain Gate.”

I want you to look first at John 7:38-39 where Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water…But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Then later, in John 16:7 Jesus said, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage (necessary) that I go away: for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”

Oh, and then, in John 20:22, after telling the disciples that ‘as the Father has sent Me, I also send you,” Jesus “Breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Some appropriate little brooks – others choose the flow of the mighty Niagara Falls. Some choose to dig in desert sands for a small drop of water – others choose the flow of a mighty Amazon or Nile River of the Spirit.

The Fountain Gate speaks of entering the flow of God Himself. The Fountain Gate speaks of standing on the promise of available power. The Fountain Gate speaks of resting in the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The Fountain Gate speaks of receiving available provisions of the fruit of the Spirit. The Fountain Gate speaks of trusting the baptism of Holy Ghost fire sweeping over us like the wind of a fire-cloud into the very glory of God. The Fountain Gate speaks of the acknowledgement of our impotence, but also the announcement and availability of His inexhaustible supply of His great power.

Acts 4:33 says, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”

Jack Taylor, in “The Key To Triumphant Living,” [Broadman Press, Nashville, 1971, p.81], wrote: “How marvelous is the figure of a RIVER…a RIVER: is involuntary and doesn’t have to try. A river is unselfish and available wherever it goes. A river is the picture of confidence and power and doesn’t have to babble like a brook! A river is consistent and keeps on keeping on. You don’t have to prod it. A river is a picture of constant cleaning. Cast pollution in it and it will sweep it away. A river is a symbol of courage. Put obstacles in front of it, and it will overwhelm them. A river speaks of available power. It runs factories and turns lights on all over the country.” Do you see the necessity of the Fountain Gate? No production, no power, no lights apart from the anointing of the mighty Spirit of God!

This is why Paul wrote Ephesians 5:17-18, “Therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is…And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!! Let the river flow through you!

But Jeremiah 2:13 says, God speaking, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS, and hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water.” And then in Jeremiah 17:13 God says, “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth. Because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”

But there is another option!! Zechariah 12:10 says, God speaking, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

Let’s meet together, right now, at “THE WATER GATE”: Nehemiah 3:26 says, “Moreover the Nethinim who dwelt in Ophel made repairs as far as the place in front of the WATER GATE…” How absolutely thrilling is God’s precious Word!

Come to Nehemiah 8:1-6, 8-9, Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose…and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground….Verses 8-9, So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.”

In Ephesians 5:25 Paul spoke of how Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it…and then in Verses 26-27 he said, “that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word…that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” I pray you are familiar with the ministry of the Word of God – individually, as a family, as a nation, and, yes, throughout the world!

Psalm 107:20, “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” But come to Psalm 119!! It majors on God’s Word: Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man cleanse his way> By taking heed according to Your word.”

Psalm 119:11, “Your word have I hid in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” Verse 25 speaks of “revival” according to God’s Word! Verse 28 speaks of “strengthened according to God’s Word!” Do we walk around with fleshly, spaghetti, or like muscles or mighty muscles of Almighty God?

Psalm 119:49 says, “Remember the word to your servant upon which You have caused me to HOPE.” Then verse 89 speaks of God’s Word “settled in heaven – FOREVER.” In verse 105 the psalmist said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Then in verse 165 he said, “Great peace have those who love Your word, and nothing causes them to stumble.” Receive His holy Word as your daily bread!

Next, let’s look at “THE HORSE GATE”: Nehemiah 3:28 says, “Beyond the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house.” The HORSE GATE?

Proverbs 21:31 speaks of “The Horse prepared for the day of battle”! Tell me about your own spiritual preparation to “fight the good fight of faith”! Jeremiah 8:6 speaks of “The Horse rushing into battle!!” Oh, but then it gets really personal here when in Zechariah 10:3b we read: “For the Lord of hosts will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His royal horse in the battle…!”

What does Revelation 19:19 tell us? “And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.”

Ernest Shurtleff wrote the great hymn entitled, “Lead On, O King Eternal.” It says: “Lead on, O King eternal, the day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest Your tents shall be our home. Through days of preparation Your grace has made us strong, And now, O King Eternal, We lift our battle song…

Lead on, O King Eternal, Till sin’s fierce war shall cease, And holiness shall whisper The sweet Amen of peace; For not with swords loud clashing, Nor roll of stirring drums, With deeds of love and mercy The heavenly kingdom comes…Lead on, O King Eternal, We follow, not with fears; For gladness breaks like morning Where’er Your face appears; Your cross is lifted o’er us; We journey in its light: The crown awaits the conquest: Lead on, O God of might.”

Let’s look at “THE EAST GATE”:

Nehemiah 3:29,”…After him Shemaiah …the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs.” Malachi 4:2 says, “But to you who fear My name the Sun of righteousness SHALL ARISE with healing in His wings.”

Without a doubt I believe this East Gate is that gate of looking, preparation, anticipation, even longing, for the soon return of the King of kings and Lord of lords! Matthew 2:2 says of ‘the wise men’ from the East that they came seeking: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him!”

Matthew 24:27 makes it even clearer: “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

But God’s Holy Word inspires us to always ‘be ready’ as if today were the day keep your eyes fixed on the East! Revelation 22:12, 16 says, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work, Verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

Almeda J. Pearce wrote a classic hymn entitled “When He Shall Come.” It says: “When He shall come, resplendent in His glory, To take His own from out this vale of night, O may I know the joy at His appearing – Only at morn to walk with Him in white!…When I shall stand within the court of Heaven Where white-robed pilgrims pass before my sight – Earth’s martyred saints and bloodwashed overcomers – These then are they who walk with Him in white!…When He shall call, from earth’s remotest corners, All who have stood triumphant in His might, O to be worthy then to stand beside them, And in that morn to walk with Him in white!”

Revelation 3:4, Jesus speaking, “You have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”

Lastly, let’s look at “THE ASSIGNMENT – APPOINTMENT – RECRUITMENT GATE”: Nehemiah 3:31 tells us about Malchijah making repairs…in front of the Miphkad Gate, “inspection” or “recruiting gate.”

In 2 Timothy 1:9 Paul shared with Timothy the call to share in the sufferings ‘FOR THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE POWER OF GOD,’ telling him, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works [or plans], but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before time began…Verse 10, but now has been revealed…”

Do you remember as we began this study that we heard Jesus say, “Strive to enter through the NARROW GATE?” O but now, listen to Psalm 31:8, “You, God, have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; YOU HAVE SET MY FEET IN A WIDE PLACE!!”

I tell you, it’s a wide place of spiritual adventures. It’s a wide place of touching the infinite and laying hold of the supernatural. It’s a wide place of expanding horizons within the Sovereignty of God. It’s a wide place of grasping the heart and ministry of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It’s a wide place where the bubbling of the spring becomes a mighty river of incomparable love feeding the world with grace and mercy.

Disciples of Jesus are not those confined in a small place suffering from ‘cabin fever’ – they are the ones who’ve entered the gate of holy calling and soar with Christ in the heavenly places. Though they may live in a small town they are consumed with the spirit of global-mindedness. They’re those who’ve been lifted to the vast vistas of world vision. With Abraham their desire is to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

John saw a vision in Revelation 5:9-10 – it’s of those singing THE NEW SONG: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; For you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation…And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

Luke 13:22-30 is both a warning AND a reason to rejoice in the Lord! It says: “And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us, and He will answer and say to you, I do not know you, where you are from; then you begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say to you, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

It was Bob Moorehead, pastor in Seattle, Washington, in the book “Standing Tall” by Steve Farrar, who wrote: [pps. 165-166], “I am part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit’s power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look up, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, stored up, and stayed up the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until Heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear.”

And I’d say Bob Moorehead’s color is “blood-red” from the very veins of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God! Amen?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“THE WAYS OF GOD?”

I did a message a number of years ago entitled “Restraining Affection.” One of those restrained affections was ‘the restraining affection of a limited knowledge of God.’ Several things I want to make mention of to introduce “The Ways of God”: Romans 10:1-2 showed us those who “have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.” In Titus 1:16 we learn of those who “profess to know God, but by their deeds deny Him.”

It doesn’t let up much at all! In John 17:3 Jesus said, “this IS eternal life, that they might KNOW YOU, the only True God and Jesus Christ whom You sent”, but how many really “know” Him? We learned in that message Hebrews 10:30-31, “For we know Him who said, ‘Vengence is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people – IT IS A TERRIFYING THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD.”

And then in Hebrews 3:10 we read, “Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts; and they did not know My ways…(as a result) Verse 11, ‘As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest.’” How serious does it sound to you to know God and His ways? But God is gracious and merciful which explains both Jesus’ presence AND the Cross!

So our Lord and Savior tells us in Matthew 10:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Moses learned the grace and mercy of God – and I don’t want you to miss what Moses said: Exodus 33:11-14, So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, SHOW ME NOW YOUR WAY, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.’ And He said, “y Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” The psalmist wrote, Psalm 103:7, “He [God] made known His ways to Moses.” And if He did that for Moses, will He do that for you?

There are those who profess that they’re the people of God – they ‘profess’ that they know His ways, or they profess they want to know His ways, but in Psalm 95:10 God declare, “…they do not know My ways…” But then there are those who come to the spiritual crossroads of life and say, “I don’t even want to know Him or His ways.”

In Job 21:7, 13-15, are words you can hear regularly, and your heart is broken. Listen, and choose Him, not a sin-blackened heart! Job 21:7 says, “Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?” A sobering question – or should be! Then, Job 21:13-15 says, “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?’”

There are those who settle for the fringes of His ways – Job 26:14, “Behold, these are the fringes of His ways: and how faint a word we hear of Him!” The fringes of – but not His ways!

But then, there are those who hunger, long, desire, walk with the very breath of life in them only to know Him: Philippians 3:10 is Paul saying, “that I may know Him!!” And Daniel 11:32 gives people like Paul a heavenly promise: “…the people WHO KNOW THEIR GOD will display strength and take action.” There are several things I want you to clearly understand:

One, GOD WANTS US TO KNOW HIS WAYS:

Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” I sense God focuses on us because of His great love for us – the man who is the furtherest throw away from God is the man loving God is most concerned about!

2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are completely His, whose hearts are steadfast.” But you must understand and be genuinely awakened in Truth: God doesn’t unveil Himself to the divided heart! Psalm 25:9 says, “…He teaches the humble His way…”. God doesn’t reveal Himself to the proud and arrogant! Psalm 25:12 says, “Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose…” Psalm 25:14 says, “The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” David put it even stronger in Psalm 103:17-18 when he wrote and sang: “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them”

God doesn’t manifest the beauty and glory of His life when there is no fear of Holy God. David was so bold about himself before the Lord. In Psalm 25:4 he cried out to the Lord: “Make me know Your ways, O Lord.” He said in verse 5, “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” Are you seeing “the surrendered life”? Are you sensing a hungering heart? Do you possess a longing soul for God Himself? Or are you ‘blind’ to what or WHO you need to see?

Understand: God doesn’t pull back the curtain to a prayer-less, self-satisfied heart.

Two, GOD NOT ONLY WANTS US TO KNOW HIS WAYS, HE WANTS US TO BE ONE WHO WALKS IN HIS WAYS:

In Deuteronomy 8:5-6 are two significant, eye-opening verses that should awaken you if you’ve lapsed into indifference to God and His ways – “You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. THEREFORE you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to WALK IN HIS WAYS and to fear Him.”

You know Moses had a true heart for God – and Moses had a heart for His people also. In Deuteronomy 28:1-2,Moses said: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord.”

Didn’t Jesus ask a very pertinent, pointed statement when He said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, but you do not do what I say?” I hate to be the one to shock you to your senses, if needed, but ‘obedience is not an option in the day of grace’! Obedience is the hallmark of one who has truly been born again!

In Deuteronomy 19:9 we read: “and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three..”

Have you truly come to grips with the evidence of “saving grace”? Ephesians 2:1-2 says, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience…” Paul said later in Ephesians 4:1, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.”

But the Word of God, the Holy Word of God, exposes the false foundations of disobedient, reckless, self-centered living, when in Isaiah 42:24, we read God’s response to that kind of a lifestyle: “Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the Lord against whom we have sinned? And in whose ways they were not willing to walk? And whose law they did not obey?”

Here they are! They knew or know His ways – but they chose, then and now, not to walk in them! Doesn’t Jeremiah 5:1-5 give us a saddened picture of, yes, even modern-day rebellion concerning those who refuse to walk in His ways? It says: “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; see now and know; and seek in her open places if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her. Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely.” O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor, they are foolish; for THEY DO NOT KNOW THE WAY OF THE LORD, the judgment of their God. I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.”

The Book of Hosea is one great prophetic word, yes, for our modern world to discover the ways of God! In Hosea 14:9 His Word tells us, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous WILL WALK IN THEM, but transgressors will stumble in them.”

God’s Holy Word overflows with “promises” He makes – Zechariah 3:7 says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, “IF you will walk in My ways, and IF you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among those who are standing here…” How exciting is I Kings 3:14? “And if you WALK IN MY WAYS…then I will prolong your days.” It’s in Isaiah 58:13-14 where God gives the challenge of us, all humanity, desisting from all our ways, and yielding ourselves to God’s ways, delighting ourselves in Him, then He will cause us to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed us with the heritage of Jacob.

But commitment is required! Psalm 37:5 is so clear: “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” Then in Psalm 50:23 we read, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright, I will show him the salvation of God.” As a result of the eternal choice of God’s ways for your life, Psalm 138:5 says, “And they will sing of the ways of the Lord: For great is the glory of the Lord.” Are you singing yet?

Three, WHAT ARE THE WAYS OF GOD?

Without hesitation, it’s easy to say God’s ways are the ways of greatness! Deuteronomy 10:17 says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality or takes a bribe.”

He’s great and awesome in His creative power: Genesis 1:1 begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The prophet Isaiah hear Him speak: Isaiah 45:6-8, “That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things. Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.”

He’s great in the eternal Cross of Christ: I’m sure you know John 3:16 by memory! But you haven’t attached eternal significance to Christ’s shed blood and broken body dying on the Cross for your salvation?

He’s great in His character and great in His awesome acts! Deuteronomy 7:21 says, “… for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.” I Chronicles 16:25 says, “For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised…” Has your life of faith matured to the point that you have become one disciple who more and more erupts in praise and adoration for the glory of God like a spiritual volcano that never subsides?

How does the Word describe His greatness? “Great deliverance,” “great judgments,” “great power,” “great terrors,” “great fires,” “great voice,” “great work which He did,” “great wrath,” “great name,” “great things He has done for you,” “the greatness of His victory,” “great mercies,” “great lovingkindness,” “great compassion,” “great goodness,” “Great King of all the earth,” “great peace,” “great glory,” “great sword,” “great wisdom,” “great law,” “great faithfulness,” “great vengeance,” “great signs,” “great day of the Lord,” “great love wherewith He loved us,” “great salvation,” “great Shepherd of the sheep”!

In Mark 10:42-45 we learn about “sharing” in His greatness! But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Yes, there is the way of greatness!

There is the way of the mother hen! Matthew 23: 37-38 says, Jesus speaking, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate..”

His way is the way of blamelessness or “having integrity”: 2 Samuel22:31, 33 tells us, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.. Verse 33, “God is my strength and power, AND HE MAKES MY WAY PERFECT.” This is why in Psalm 101 David wrote: Verses 2-3, “I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.”

His way is the way of straightness! In Acts 13:9-10 Paul confronted Elymas the sorcerer: “Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?’” Oh, but of course, we don’t have to worry about that attitude in America, do we? Again, David, in Psalm 125:5 said, “But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.” Do you remember John beginning his public ministry, and they asked him, John 1:23, “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness; make straight the way of the Lord.’”

His way is the way of LIFE: I love what Peter said in the beginning of his public ministry in Acts 2:25-28, “For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades [or “among the dead”]. Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.” But you have a better way of life than Jesus’ way?

His way is the way of Righteousness and Truth: In Revelation 15:3 we read, They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of saints!” Isaiah 64:5 says, “You, God, meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways.”

His way is the way of Blessing: Psalm 67:1-2 the psalmist gives us both an invocation and a doxology. He wrote: “God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.” Have you ever heard someone say, “God wants me to be happy.” No, He wants you “blessed” – happiness is here for a moment, then gone away in the dark clouds! But God’s ‘blessing’ is forever. Plus, God isn’t interested in your happiness – He wants you to be HOLY!

His way is the way of the stronghold: Proverbs 10:29 is so clear: “The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright.” In Him, you don’t have to be uptight when you walk upright because we have a mighty fortress in our God, a bulwark never failing. It’s a stronghold of strength, love and compassion, protection, provision, and Holy Presence! Psalm 48:3 says, “God, in her palaces (the Holy City) has made Himself known as a stronghold…”

His way is the way of Sovereign Leadership: In Genesis 24:27 we read: And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brothers.” Isaiah 48:17 says: Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who LEADS YOU BY THE WAY YOU SHOULD GO.” And, praise God, that Word is still true today. He will open doors for you, and He will close the doors you do not need to be headed toward!

His way is the way of PEACE: Isn’t it interesting as you look at world events, national crisis, family eruptions, church splits – Isaiah 59:8 says, “The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace.” Don’t you remember that Jesus’ promise is for the “peace that passes all understanding”! Glory!

Then, lastly, His way, is the Everlasting Way: Habakkuk 3:6 simply says: “His ways are everlasting..” In John 10:27-28 Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

In Oswald Chambers’ book “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.93], he wrote: “God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. There are spots where that faith has not worked in us as yet, places untouched by the life of God. There were none of those spots in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. “This is life eternal, that they might know You.” The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.” That central place of power? Walking in His ways, walking in step with our Lord and Savior, and, yes, walking in step with His people!

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“WHERE ARE ALL HIS MIRACLES?”

The question of this chapter is what Gideon asked the Angel of the Lord in Judges 6 – and it is a pointed, personal, powerful question for all disciples of our Lord to be examining! Certainly, Gideon was asking concerning three areas of a disciple’s spiritual journey: 1) “Where are all His miracles …that our fathers told us about, 2) that our nation once knew, 3) And that our walk with God experienced in the infancy of our faith and pilgrimage.

Thomas Fuller, in his book entitled “Church History,” [Vol. 2, p.239) said: “Miracles are the ‘swaddling – clothes’ of infant churches.” No doubt that statement is truer, but miracles also are the garments of salvation disciples are to be walking in! Miracles are not to be the exception, but the explanation of the Indwelling Life of Christ in every true believer! That’s those believers made totally available to Almighty God and the Resurrected Christ and the very present power of the Holy Spirit!

In Numbers 11:23 the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited?” It’s not the Lord’s power that is limited but the limitations of the Lord’s people that they carry around, even doubting its modern-day availability!

Deuteronomy 3:24 says, “O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand: for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours?”

But the psalmist asked, Psalm 79:10, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where Is Their God?” But is it God that is the problem when miracles appear as ancient acts or is it us? Must we have to say to the nations, ‘Our God is asleep?’ ‘Our God doesn’t do what He once did?’ Or ‘Miracles were for another day and age and no longer are they applicable to New Covenant people!’ I don’t think so! GOD IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOREVER!

Hear what Spurgeon had to say, and receive it, walk in it, and apply it to yourself and the church of these ‘last days’! [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol. 17, p.95], “Some deny miracles; and if they also deny God, I will not at this time deal with them. But it is very strange that anyone who believes in God should doubt the possibility of miracles. It seems to me that, granted the being of a God, miracle is to be expected as an occasional declaration of His independent and active will. He may make certain rules for His actions, and it may be His wisdom to keep them; but surely He must reserve to Himself the liberty to depart from His own laws, or else He has in a measure laid aside His personal Godhead, deified law, and set it up above Himself. It would not increase our idea of the glory of His Godhead if we could be assured that He had made Himself subject to rule, and tied His own hands from ever acting except in a certain manner. From the self-existence and freedom of will which enter into our very conception of God, we are led to expect that sometimes He should not keep to the methods which He follows as His golden rule. This has led to the universal conviction that miracle is the proof of Godhead. The general works of creation and providence are to my mind the best proofs; but the common heart of our race, for some reason or other, looks to miracle as surer evidence; thus proving that miracle is expected of God.”

A miracle? What is it? Listen to Robert South: “A miracle is a work exceeding the power of any created agent, consequently being ‘an effect of the divine omnipotence’!”

I want my life, my family, my ministry, my church, my nation, to be an effect of divine omnipotence! It was Vance Havner, in his book, “Repent or Else”, [p.18], who said: “A lot of Sunday-morning Christians, who want to sit with folded hands and listen to a mild discourse on the Teacher of Galilee, need to be aroused from their stupor by a vision of the flaming Christ of the Candlesticks.” I’m telling you, the church TODAY needs to become a true body of believers ‘ship-wrecked on His Sovereignty and stranded alone on the Sea of His omnipotence!

Isn’t it absolutely amazing to you that Jesus had to say to a church, [Revelation 3:20], “Laodecia, Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.” “WHERE ARE ALL HIS MIRACLES”?

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN “BURIED IN THE ATTITUDE OF SELF-PITY” IN THE MIDST OF LIFE’S CIRCUMSTANCES RATHER THAN THE APPROPRIATION OF GOD’S AVAILABLE PRESENCE, PROPHETS, AND PROMISES TO SEE HIS SERVANTS THROUGH:

In Judges 6:1, 6-10 we read, “Then the children did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. Verses 6-10, So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice.”

Do you understand “pity parties”? That’s a trap we set for ourselves binding us in our natural inabilities while thanksgiving is release to the availability of God’s supernatural power! Pity parties are paralyzing, but appropriation is liberating!

In Acts 16, beginning at verse 16, as Paul and Silas were ministering to a slave girl who possessed a spirit of divination and received deliverance, her masters were more than annoyed by Paul and Silas – they had them imprisoned! Opportunity now for a “pity party”? No! How about appropriation through prayer to Holy God? Acts 16:25 says, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns, and the prisoners were listening to them.” The result? A great earthquake, prison doors opened, chains loosed, and a multitude of prisoners get saved!

We fix our eyes on ourselves so often, on our circumstances, on our enemies, that we cannot see or recognize the awesome hand of God! The Word doesn’t say, “Fix your eyes on your circumstances!” It says, “Fix your gaze upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith!”

We need to see every moment of every day the crucified, risen, ascended, reigning, glorified and coming King of kings and Lord of lords who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we ask or think! We need to see the Christ of the Golden Candlesticks whose countenance overshadows us, brighter than the noon-day sun, whose eyes are like fire, and whose voice is like the sound of many waters.

We need to see Him (Colossians 2:15) who “disarmed the rulers and authorities, who made a public display of Satan and the powers of darkness, who stripped them naked, triumphing over them.”

If we really bow down to the Lord Jesus, if we really submit ourselves to His authority, if we gladly become His servant, under His Sovereign control, there is no circumstance we are not over! Why? Because He rules and He reigns – and we learn to let God be God in us and through us! If you haven’t, then confess your self-pity, abandon it at the altar and receive the prophet’s word and walk on with God in His miracle-working deliverance!

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN BLOCKED BY A WALK OF DISOBEDIENCE RATHER THEN OPENED BY A WALK OF OBEDIENCE:

In Judges 6:10 we read, ‘Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice.” In Deuteronomy 7 we read about God’s passion to bless those who obey Him – and you would think that that is the desire of every believer, but sadly it is not! Deuteronomy 7:9-14 tells us: “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who Keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them. THEN it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples…”

Do you remember His Word? “Tell the sons of Israel, ‘Go forward,’” and as they did, the Red Sea was opened and they walked on dry land and the armies of the enemy were destroyed! Do you remember? “Stretch forth the withered hand” – and as he did, the hand was restored! Do you remember? Elijah to the widow of Zarephath, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” “I have no bread, only a handful of flour and a little oil.” “Make me a cake first, then you and your son. For thus says the Lord, ‘the bowl of flour shall not be exhausted nor the jar of oil empty until the day that the Lord sends rain on the field of the earth.’ She went and did as Elijah had spoken.”

Where are all His miracles? There was a poll nationwide that said 90% of Americans believe in God, and we know there is a church just about on every corner of American cities big or small, yet the spiritual climate of America is in a sick stage near death. It doesn’t seem to equate! You look at the seven churches in Revelation 2, 3, and 5 were in great need of the miracle power of God restoring them to their first love! And if we are going to see God’s miracles again, there must be a ‘revival’ of obedience!

Listen to Finney, quoted in Havner’s book, “Repent or Else,” [pps. 15-16], “Revival is the renewal of the first love of Christians, resulting in the conversion of sinners to God. It presupposes that the church is back-slidden and revival means conviction of sin and the searching of hearts among God’s people. Revival is nothing less than a new beginning of obedience to God, a breaking of the heart and getting down in the dust before Him with deep humility and forsaking of sin. A revival breaks the power of the world and of sin over Christians. The charm of the world is broken and the power of sin overcome. Truths to which our hearts are unresponsive suddenly become living. Whereas mind and conscience may assent to truth, when revival comes, OBEDIENCE to the truth is the one thing that matters.”

HIS MIRACLES ARE BARRED BY A LACK OF APPRECIATION OF GOD’S DIVINE MANDATE: Again, in Judges 6:14-16, hear the word of the Lord: “Then the Lord turned to him (Gideon) and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’ So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manessah, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

Is there an appreciation, a deep appreciation, for the mandates of our Master and Lord? In John 20:21 He said, “Peace to you! As My Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And they go in their own strength? No! John 20:22 says, And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” With have the Master’s Divine Mandate plus Holy Spirit anointing!

In John 14:12 our Lord says even now to us: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do because I go to My Father.” What an amazing word! Do you possess heavenly appreciation for our earthly mandate?

HIS MIRACLES ARE BOUND UP IN FEAR, EVEN FEAR OF FAILURE, RATHER THAN TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH THAT CALLS UPON GOD TO SHOW HIMSELF STRONG:

In 2 Chronicles 16:9 we read, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”

Do you have even a faint idea of the dilemma of one who has no idea of the God who has shown Himself strong but they settle in to try and stand on a false foundation of fear?

I want you to come back to Judges 6 and follow carefully every word in verses 17-24: Gideon said, to God, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.” And God said, “I will wait until you come back.” So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. The Angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.”

Then in verses 36-40 Gideon is either unsure of God, afraid of his own failure, or doubting himself that God could use him as a leader! That’s what these verses are about! Gideon didn’t need a fleece – he needed the unconditional offering of full surrender to the will of God for his life, submission, yes, even celebration that God had confidence in him whether he did or not! Gideon had been touched by the signature of God on his life – but he was genuinely afraid.

Is God with us? Is God with you? Why not say to Him, “Lord, consume my fears and give me a strong faith; Lord, light the fire of your blazing glory in me; Lord, show yourself strong! A fleece? Why not faith in the faithfulness of God! But, at the same time, I don’t believe it was ‘doubting Thomas’ but a man who wanted only in the divine certainty of the Living Christ’s presence, power, plan, and promise. We should not be those who ‘kick against the pricks, but those subject to the hands of our Lord’s control!

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN BETRAYED AND BLOCKED BY THE ACQUISITION AND ACCEPTANCE OF IDOLS AS AN ORDINARY PART OF ONE”S LIFE:

Look again in Judges 6:25-29! It says, Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and TEAR DOWN THE ALTAR OF BAAL THAT YOUR FATHER HAS, AND CUT DOWN THE WOODEN IMAGE THAT IS BESIDE IT; and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down. So Gideon took ten men from among his servants AND DID AS THE LORD HAD SAID TO HIM. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”

Do you remember the word of the Lord coming to Ezekial? Ezekial 14:2-3 says, And the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?” I believe you know the answer!

And, sadly, most Americans don’t even know what ‘idolatry’ truly is from God’s perspective! But Colossians 3:5 informs us: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, WHICH IS IDOLATRY.”

Are you aware of what you’ve just read? The Holy Word of God explains much of America’s fall into idol worship, even by many in the church! Rather than devotion to Christ Jesus, many faithfully bow before their idols in their minds, bodies, and, yes, their hearts – they’re captured, bound, imprisoned, to the world, the flesh, and the devil!

Have you cut down and burned the idols in your own heart and mind? Is your life hidden with Christ in God? To what or who do you bow before each day? “Where are all His miracles?” In the born-again, surrendered, yielded life – not to idols, but yielded to Christ alone! That’s THE MIRACLE!

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN BESEIGED BY A FEAR OF MAN THAT LIMITS THE FULLNESS OF GOD:

In Judges 6:30-32 we read: Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar!”

It’s for sure: Joash had no fear of man, but at least he did have a fear of God. Proverbs 29:25 tells us, “The fear of man brings a snare [a trap], but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe [or secure].” The fear of men is wicked, but the fear of God is heavenly blessing. But it is true that some earthlings have no confidence in God Himself but fear of men dominate their every turn – and they suffer with a spiritual disease that is quickly cured when God has His rightful place in their lives. If we know God is our ‘help’, why should one ever fear?

It’s faithlessness in God Himself that breeds fleshly fear of fallen men! God doesn’t birth cowards – He births sons of God. God doesn’t birth men who are overcome by the fear of what men could do to them, but births men who know God is their defense and their defender!

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN BLOCKED BY FLESHLY DEVOTIONS RATHER THAN FAITHFUL DEPENDENCE UPON THE SPIRIT OF GOD:

There is such an interesting verse in Judges 6:34 which tells us: “But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon..” Came upon? It’s a word that basically means “took possession of”!

But those who doubt, are afraid of, or ignorant about the Holy Spirit’s ministry in their lives offer God “best effort” which shuts the door on God’s blessing their lives in the anointing of His Spirit and power – they want to “wing it” on their own, producing only death not heavenly life.

Do you remember our Lord’s words to His disciples right before His ascension? John 20:21-22 says: So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!!” Has that changed? Not from Jesus’ point of view, but certainly from those who trust in fleshly devotions, miracles are strange events they want no part of.

In Luke 5:17-26 you find Jesus forgiving and healing the ‘paralytic but also you see the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, and the scribes, who in their ‘fleshly devotions’ are opposing Jesus! That attitude has not changed even today!

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN BLOCKED BY THE INTELLECTUAL RATIONALIZATIONS OF NICKLES, NUMBERS OR NOSES, RATHER THAN THE INFINITE REVELATION – “GOD IS ENOUGH”:

In Judges 7:2 the Lord spoke to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’”

In that story God shared with Gideon that if Israel went out on its own to defeat the Midianites that they would internalize the victory and it would be their personal glory – not God’s. So, He told Gideon, “Too many men, Gideon! Send home those who are afraid, and 22,000 left the battlefield!” Another large number of Israelites failed God’s test the second time, leaving only 300 men against a strong nation’s might! And their weapons? God, torches and trumpets!!

Look at Deuteronomy 8:10-20! “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. BEWARE that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest – when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end – then you say in your heart ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ And you shall remember thye Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods and serve them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.”

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN, ARE, WILL BOOMERANG THROUGH DOUBT AND SPECULATION OF THE UNUSUAL, MIRACULOUS, SUPERNATURAL, RATHER THAN RECEIVED IN AN ATTITUDE OF HUMBLENESS, PRAISE, AND WORSHIP:

In Judges 7:12-15 we read, “Now the Midianites and Amalikites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude. And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.” Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.” And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”

In Matthew 13:53-58 we read about Jesus going back into His own country. He went into the synagogue to teach them, but they doubted Jesus and His teaching! They were “offended at Him” – and verse 58 tells us: “Now He did not do many mighty works THERE because of their unbelief.” Does that attitude of unbelief still hinder Jesus’ miraculous ministry?

How about Abraham? Romans 4:20-21 says: “He did not waiver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being FULLY PERSUADED that what God had promised, He was also able to perform.” Amen?

HIS MIRACLES HAVE BEEN BLIGHTED BY A SPIRIT OF “FALLING SHORT” RATHER THAN ENDURING TO THE END:

In Judges 8:4 we read: When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three men who were with him “crossed over”, exhausted but still in pursuit.”

Isn’t it interesting to you that Jesus said in Matthew 20:16 that “Many are called, but few chosen”? You are aware, I pray, that you as a man, like Gideon, are chosen to fulfill God’s purpose in and through your life! No doubt this is why Paul said of himself, in I Corinthians 9:22, “…I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Life with eternal purpose, life with a divine design, life with eternal intent!! But the spirit of “falling short” of God’s plan short-circuits one’s walk of faith! Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.221], “All God’s men are ordinary men made extraordinary by the matter He has given to them. Unless we have the right matter in our minds intellectually and in our hearts affectionately, we will be hustled out of our usefulness to God.”

And I pray that is not an indictment of your spiritual walk and journey but an illumination of God’s intent for your spiritual journey – YOU WILL BE ONE AVAILABLE TO GOD FOR HIS MIRACULOUS MINISTRY!!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“IS THERE IN YOU PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS?”

The calling of God on a man’s life is such a high and holy calling. To be ‘in Christ Jesus’ is to be a vessel, a container, set apart for the glory of God through availability to the Indwelling Lord and Savior and Master of life.

I want you to read so carefully and prayerfully Revelation 1:4-6, “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and HAS MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS TO HIS GOD AND FATHER, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Do YOU say ‘Amen’ to that?

In I Peter 2:4-5, 9, we also read: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Verse 9, But YOU are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Then in 2 Timothy 1:8-9 we read, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” WOW!

Next foundational word for this chapter? I Peter 5:10, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

God’s Holy Word is so inspirational, instructive, illuminating for us His divine intent laid out from the overflow of His heart and mind before the world had even been established! In Leviticus 16:21-22 we read about “the scape goat”! The Lord had spoken to Moses with instructions: “Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”

And if you haven’t learned it as yet, “Christ Jesus IS God’s ‘scape goat’ in our behalf on the Cross with His broken body, shed blood, and dying form! Yet, many have not returned to the Lord! In Amos 4:11-12 the prophet spoke: “I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD!”

Holy God is concerned, not only with the lost, the separated, the unbelievers, but also His own children of faith who take lightly spiritual preparedness and readiness. This is what apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are all about because we read in Ephesians 4:12-16, that these teacher-servants are given “for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” What an awesome foundation for us in this chapter!

So Jesus in His loving spirit of compassion said to us in Matthew 24:42-44, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

What was it Jesus said to Simon Peter about preparation and readiness? Look at Luke 22:31-32, And the Lord said to Simon, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” The wise man of Proverbs 24:16 told us, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” Who are you? The righteous man who falls and gets up or the wicked man content in his calamity?

In Matthew 22:8-14 Jesus speaks to us all about preparation and readiness. He Said: Then the king said to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, “Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Preparedness and Readiness? What is it all about?

THERE IS THE PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS OF THE HEART:

In Psalm 78:7-8 we learn absolute essentials for reconciliation to Holy God. It says, “That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that DID NOT SET ITS HEART ARIGHT, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

2 Chronicles 12:14 tells us about King Rehoboam. It says: “And he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” And that’s the calling on every man’s life, past, present and future: Prepare your heart to seek the Lord!

Samuel had gone to Bethlehem at the Lord’s request, and he saw Eliab, saying to those around him, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” But I Samuel 16:7 is God’s response to Samuel’s flawed response about Eliab. God said: “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Do you remember the question David asked in Psalm 23:3? “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?” And God’s response? Verse 4, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart…”!! Well, that’s certainly a dilemma if you look only inwardly to yourself and do not look to the God who graciously offers “new hearts”! Isn’t that what God tells us in Ezekial 36:25-27? “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

In John 7:38 Jesus tells us, “He who believes in Me, [that’s trust in, rely upon, adhere to], as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Since the lost man’s heart is a diseased heart, spiritual heart-transplant is his only hope of being reconciled to Holy God. Prepare, get ready to meet Him face to face!

THERE IS THE PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS TO REMOVE EVERY OBSTACLE:

2 Timothy 2:19-22 hits the nail dead-center on the head of God’s concern for every disciple of Christ. Paul wrote to his young spiritual so, “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,” and “let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Our journey of faith in Christ is not ‘happen-chance’ but holy commitment to be, to become, all God desires of us – and that’s explained in Colossians 3:9-10, “Do not lie to one another, SINCE you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have PUT ON THE NEW MAN who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”

Here’s how Oswald Chambers explained it in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.222], “When looking back on the lives of men and women of God the tendency is to say – What wonderfully astute wisdom they had! How perfectly they understood all God wanted! The astute mind behind is the Mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the Divine guidance of God through childlike people who were foolish enough to trust God’s wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God.” Oh, how strong and on target is that!

THERE IS THE PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS FOR THE SPIRITUAL BATTLES EVERY DISCIPLE FACES:

In John 16:33 Jesus speaks to us as His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

There’s an interesting word Paul shared with the church at Corinth when in I Corinthians 14:8 he said, “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?” That may explain the Ephraimites when Asaph said in Psalm 78:9, “The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.”

The Christian walk, the path of true disciples, the highway of holiness, always leads to a battlefield. For some it’s in their marriage, for others it’s parental-children conflicts, for businessmen it’s war with a crooked associate, for college students who serve Christ it’s war with a godless professor, for churches it can be a ‘false preacher’ who betrays the Word he professes loyalty to, for true pastors it’s ungodly men who see themselves ‘sent by God’ to keep the preacher straight –spiritual walks in Christ always leads to ‘your cross,’ ‘your war,’ ‘your test,’ and you cannot escape it, but you can prepare just like a soldier on his way to a war-front! Antagonism to the true faith and loyal disciples of Jesus is the recognition that trouble is rooted in everyone’s journey with Jesus, but there is the promise of His people leaning on Him coming out a ‘winner’ not a loser, a victor not a victim, a champion not a dejected, defeated, defiled son!

I love 2 Chronicles 20:15 which says: Thus says the Lord to YOU, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Amen?

THERE IS THE PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS TO KEEP OUR LAMPS ALIGHT:

In Luke 12:35-37 Jesus tells us, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.” Are your lamps burning?

The call on your life as a disciple is the call to walk in the light as He is in the light, yet many ‘professing disciples’(?) choose to walk in darkness. And the ‘darkness of disillusionment’ is a black cloud, not only overshadowing many, but producing doubt, cynicism, and even rejection of the Christ-life they claim to hold.

I pray what Jesus had to say in Matthew 25:1-13 will be a light exposing your darkness if you’ve let it in or a light that reveals your devotion to the only Lord and Savior: “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now, five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

In John 5:35 Jesus described John like this: “He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.” Will Jesus rejoice over your light as it reveals His fullness in you?

THERE IS THE PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS FOR THE APPROVAL OF GOD:

I Corinthians 9:23-27 informs us not only of the approval of God but “striving for the crown.” I was a high school and collegiate football player for my high school team in Cleveland, Tennessee, and was on football scholarship at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. I can assure you that I never played to lose but to win! What did Paul tell the Corinthians? “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

To Timothy Paul wrote: 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly diving the word of truth.”

Yes, and did you know or did you fly by what Paul said to the Corinthians why he disciplined himself in the things of the Spirit-real? BECAUSE HE HAD NO DESIRE TO BE DISQUALIFIED!! That is NO APPROVAL FROM GOD HIMSELF! That ought to scare the living—– out of you!

But there are ‘professors of faith’ who are not possessors of the true faith – they are ‘pretenders’! And in Titus 1:15-16 Paul wrote: “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” But is it your strong desire to be “approved by God”?

THERE IS THE PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS TO DIE:

In 2 Timothy 4:5-8 Paul wrote: “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

I’ve already told you earlier in this book of my heart attack on April 27, 2013. My son Scott took me to the hospital just moments after we arrived back from Houston, Texas, having attended a three-day conference there. I had chest pains from across my left shoulder straight across to my right shoulder. At the emergency room an EKG was ordered: Two minutes to do the EKG, two minutes for the emergency room doctor to read it, and immediately he said to the 7 or 8 attendants working on me: “Get him out of here to surgery; he has less than an hour to live!”

Down that hospital corridor they ran with me, up an elevator, into the surgical wing – and at 8:30 on a Saturday night, there was my heart-surgeon doctor ready to perform a miracle: my main artery was 100% closed, there was a huge blood clot ready to break loose and kill me, but Holy God intervened! And here’s the miracle of grace: I had no fear AT ALL – if my Lord wanted me in Heaven, I was ready to go! Are YOU prepared to die?

I ministered for 25 years all over India leading pastors’ conferences, open-air crusades, and youth evangelism outreach. On one of my memorable trips I so clearly heard God say to me: “The church of India will blossom, but it will blossom by the blood of the martyrs.” India’s pastors are prepared to die!

THERE IS PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS TO PREACH, TEACH, OR SHARE THE WORD OF GOD:

Thank God for Paul’s passionate concern for the young Timothys. He wrote in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, PREACH THE WORD! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

Why is that? Because in the ‘last days’ church of the 21^st Century, Verses 3-4, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

Do you realize and understand what Paul was talking about as he shared the “falling away-ers” from the true faith and word because of their “itching ears”? Well, be assured, God hasn’t called you to “scratch” itching ears but to preach, teach, and share with others the revelation of God’s Holy Word! And that’s even if it costs you your life! Beware of any “community of faith” (?) that has no real emphasis on the revelation of God’s Word!

In I Peter 3:15 Peter wrote: But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” Are you ready?

THERE IS PREPAREDNESS AND READINESS FOR THE WEDDING DAY:

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul challenged the church in Corinth and, yes, churches everywhere: “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Does it appear to you that some “professors” might not prepare for the wedding day?

In Revelation 19:5-8 John heard a voice from heaven saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, AND HIS WIFE HAS MADE HERSELF READY.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

There should be no surprise as to who the “bride” is preparing for the wedding day, but Revelation 17:14 tells us: “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and THOSE WHO ARE WITH HIM are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Romans 5:10 opens the door to your preparation and readiness for that eternal “wedding day”. It says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.” Are YOU “being” saved by His life?

In 2 Corinthians 7:1 Paul wrote: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The “bride” prepares herself, making herself ready for the wedding day. And verse 3 of this same chapter lets us know this bridal path preparation when Paul said the Corinthians were in his heart “to die together and to live together.” I thought it was ‘live together so they could die together.’ That may be the natural world, but in the Kingdom of God it’s daily taking “the sentence of death” that we might share in resurrection life, resurrection power and resurrection hope – dying together so we eternally live together wedded to our Lord and Savior!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“WHERE’S THE GRIEF?”

In Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 are words that express true cycles and events of a pilgrim’s journey. It says: “There is an appointed time for everything…A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” But for Israel Jeremiah had to ask, Jeremiah 15:5, “Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will mourn for you, or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?” Certainly God’s “chosen people” have little support – and if Israel was destroyed [which it won’t be] who would mourn but those who share God’s heart?

In Matthew 11:16-17 Jesus said: “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to other children…and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and yet you did not mourn.”

No grief or no mourning about personal, spiritual tragedies, or, yes, national reversals from God-fearing to a godless society, is like an evil ‘scum’ settling over the population at large! Rather than a genuine Godly sorrow, many societies just settle into a gall of bitterness. You’ve sensed it no doubt when spiritually there is no clear shining sun, no fresh spring rains of revival or renewal, no cooling clouds – only horrible spiritual hurricanes that pummel your life –only spiritual volcanic eruptions all around you, only dark, dark clouds of suffering, demonic attacks, Satanic interference…and no one seems to care!

But you don’t mourn or grieve alone – if you – because in Matthew 5:4 God’s Holy Word tells us, Jesus speaking, “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” I pray that you understand if you are one who does grieve over the spiritual climate surrounding you that you understand that your “grief” is but the shadow of God’s Holy Presence!

In Isaiah 53:3 the prophet tells us about Jesus: “A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Grief or sorrow is out of the divine nature of God Himself! Grief or sorrow is assurance of eternal presence! No grief, no sorrow over the spiritual condition of individuals or a nation is evidence of a spiritual disease that needs and must have divine healing.

In Ezekial 9:4-6 The Lord said to the prophet, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” To the others He said in my hearing, ‘Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is a mark; and begin at My sanctuary.’ So they began with the elders who were before the temple.”

Why was that? Because there was little grieving and mourning over the sins of the city and the nation! And God said, “Begin with the elders in leadership of My temple!!”

There’s another prophetic word God gave to Amos. Notice Amos 6:1-8, “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in Mount Samaria, notable persons in the chief nation, to whom the house of Israel comes! Go over to Calneh and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory? Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who cause the seat of violence to come near; who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall; Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; Who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, BUT ARE NOT GRIEVED FOR THE AFFLICTION OF JOSEPH. Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, and those who recline at banquets shall be removed. The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts says: ‘I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” No grief, no mourning – and God moves in judgment!

To mourn? The dictionary says, “to express grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful…mourning may be expressed by weeping or audible sounds, or sobs, sighs or inward silent grief…to lament.”

To grieve? “To feel pain of mind or heart; to be in pain on account of an evil; to sorrow; to mourn.” Do you understand whether its grief or mourning over a broken marriage, or a wayward teenager, or a rebellious nation, or godless leaders, or a compromising pastor or church people, or lost family members and friends separated from God, your brokenness can hold back God’s judgment?

Is it possible that, “where there is no grief or mourning or sorrow” over the situations of life you find yourself in, that we can [and will] have God’s grief birthed in us if we call on Him? Yes, if one is willing to accept it and share it with Him! It begins with:

THE GRIEF OF GOD OVER THE SIN OF MAN THAT YOU WILLINGLY ACCEPT:

In Genesis 6:5-6 we read: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and HE was GRIEVED IN HIS HEART.”

The author of “Green Pastures” wrote: “It ain’t no picnic bein’ God…”. [That was John Jasper.]. And you begin to understand and grasp the awesomeness of God’s heart for you and me! John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

In Isaiah 1:2-9, 18-20 we hear both the mind of God and the heart of God, His grief and His grace: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: ‘I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider.’ Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devout your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah. Verses 18-20, Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Listen to Jesus and the grief in His own heart as He spoke about Jerusalem: Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” And the result? Verse 38, See! Your house is left to you desolate!” But you don’t believe that’s our Lord’s concern about you or your nation?

WHAT ABOUT THE GRIEF OF CARING MEN OVER THE LOSTNESS OF OTHERS AND THEIR SEPARATION FROM GOD?

In Romans 9:1-3 we read the heart of Paul the Apostle: “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.”

One of the greatest dangers any professing disciple of Christ faces is a cold, cold heart concerning the lost, the perishing, the alienated from God folks! If there is no sorrow and grief over the separated from God people, it means one has become extremely shallow in his faith. And I’m not thinking of the sorrow of the rich young ruler because riches had become his god – his sorrow was because he had become disillusioned when he realized the bondage of self-love and what possessed him – and he certainly was not willing to let it go! But Jesus reached out to him, He sought to touch him with grace and mercy, He targeted what had his heart and sought to truly make him rich in faith! Who do you reach out to?

Do you remember Psalm 126:5-6? It says, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seeds for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

What was our Lord’s commission to the early church and has it changed? “You shall be My witnesses…!!” Are you busy about the Father’s business?

THERE IS ALSO THE GRIEF OF THE FALLING OF THE MIGHTY:

I Samuel 15 is such a powerful word to all of God’s people, and, yes, a word of warning concerning our obedience or lack of it as the Lord commissioned us. It’s about Saul as Samuel came to confront him. The commission of God to Saul was to go and Amalek and utterly destroy that people – none were to be spared!

Saul did attack them, but I Samuel 15:9 says, “but Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep…” Look with me at I Samuel 15:13-23. We read: Then Saul said to Samuel, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.” So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said to Samuel, ‘But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” Verse 35 then says, And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.” Enough said here!

THERE IS ALSO PARENTAL GRIEF OVER THE FALLING AWAY FROM GOD OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS:

Proverbs 10:1 is so very clear, “A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother..” And then in Proverbs 17:25 we read, “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.”

Isn’t it absolutely sad for parents who live Godly lives, lay their lives down in ministry and service to their sons and daughters, and, yes, train them well in the Word and by example, to have to face the devastation of their sons and daughters because they choose the world not God’s will, they choose fleshly devotion to a fallen self not faithfulness to a loving Savior, they choose loose living morally to living in and by the Holy Word of God!

For parents that is horrendous, a heavy weight hard to carry, and even a hellish assault on their own faith! Rather than God’s spirit of grace on their sons and daughters some parents are crushed as they witness sons and daughters bound by spirits of deception, bound by the control of demonic spirits that have taken their children over with hellish mind control, broken-hearted as they watch sons and daughters sold out to the spirit of godlessness.

How sad is it when a broken-hearted parent reads a passage like Proverbs 19:16 which says, “He who keeps [God’s] commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless [reckless] of his ways will die.” And at least those parents set aside to the glory of God grieve over wayward children.

THERE IS THE GRIEF OF A DEPARTED GLORY:

Ephesians 3:21 says, “to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” That’s God’s aim, His divine will and pleasure, His goal for every life to live under the glory cloud of Holy Presence, for the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ to reign supreme in every heart, every home, every church, every life – glory all around!

But when you look to Lamentations and then look around you, one is heavy-laden by the absence of God’s glory cloud! Lamentations 1:20 speaks of one in great distress because of that recognition that His glory has departed. It says, “See, O Lord, that I am in distress; my soul is troubled; my heart is overturned within me, for I have been rebellious. Outside the sword bereaves, at home it is like death.”

Why is it? You know what Romans 3:23 says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” But that’s so difficult for many to face up to – so they substitute glory in God for a spirit of godlessness in themselves!

It may be hard for a godless society to accept, but I believe the Holy Word is convicting and convincing, so follow carefully I Corinthians 5 which says: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles – that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

THERE IS ALSO THE GRIEF OF THE WORD-TESTING:

Didn’t we just read in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 5 two statements “inspired by God’s Holy Spirit” – Verse 9, “I wrote to you in my epistle…” and Verse 11, “But now I have written to you…”

In 2 Corinthians, again, Paul stresses the vital importance of openness and obedience to God’s divine will! 2 Corinthians 6: 11-12 the Apostle said, “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.”

Do you grasp what we’ve just read? Grief always overshadows a life that is resistant to the Holy Word of God! Didn’t Jesus tell us in Matthew 4:4, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”?

Go to Genesis and read carefully God testing Abraham. Remember? “Take Isaac to the land of Moriah, offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain.” Abraham told his two servants traveling with him that “we will come back to you.” He was going to be obedient and offer Isaac, and he expected “a resurrection”! In verse 12 of chapter 22 of Genesis God said as Isaac laid on the altar, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.” [Check out Ezekial 21:1-17!!].

BUT ALSO WHERE IS THE GRIEF OVER THE NEEDY?

In Job 30:25 we read: “Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?” And there is no doubt God’s compassion SHOULD flow through us to the poverty-stricken physically, but just as passionate God’s people must “care” for the spiritually poor! Isn’t spiritual poverty as great a threat to a society as physical poverty? Neglect of either is not an option God’s people should hold!

Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Then in Psalm 35:9-10 David was being persecuted, but he called out to the Living God because he knew God’s heart: “And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation. All my bones shall say, ‘Lord, who is like You, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?’

But we who are in oneness with Jesus have no concern, no ministry, no outreach, no compassion for the poor? “As Jesus is, so are we in this world?”

THERE IS THE GRIEF OF A POTENTIAL BETRAYAL AND A PERILOUS FALLING AWAY:

In Matthew 26:17-25 we learn about Judas! But then follow carefully verses 31-35! Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.

Do you understand the fragileness of ALL disciples when persecution is unleashed? In Zechariah 13:7 it says: “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered…”

Mark 14:21 should plant the fear of God in any and every true believer! It says, “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”

The Prophet Jeremiah puts before us awesome words of warning when he told us in Jeremiah 22:8-10 these words: “And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods and served them.’ Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him; weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.”

THERE IS THE GRIEF THE WALK OF DEATH PRODUCES:

In Matthew 26 Jesus had gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. In verses 37-39 we read about this momentous night in the life of our Lord AND three of His disciples: And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

And you do understand – I’m not only talking about one’s facing the reality of physical death that can produce ‘grief’ about dying in many hearts, but I’m talking about the struggle between ‘flesh’ and Spirit that we all must face and fight, and some ‘fear’ that death to self or, yes, death to their old sin natures! There’s no doubt that ‘grief’ concerning a sharing of “the afflictions of Christ” that Paul talked about has and will generate grief in some hearts, but here is to be a “continuing” in the faith, grounded and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you’ve centered your life in! Hold on! Don’t give away to ‘grief’ the walk of death can produce!

THERE IS, OR SHOULD BE IN EVERY BELIEVER, GRIEF OVER HARDENED HEARTS:

In Mark 3:1-5 we see this possibility for today: And Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so they might accuse Him. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.”

Did you notice Jesus “grieved by the hardness of their hearts”? And I have no doubt about some who hear the demands of discipleship, His call to be broken bread and poured out wine, His call to disciples to take up their own crosses and follow Him, and they say, “I’ll not be squeezed by anyone, crushed by anything to make His wine, or accept the call of a cross for anybody or anything,” and as a result, they walk away from the greatest relationship and opportunity they could be a part of – they don’t – and Jesus grieves over hardened hearts.

THERE IS ALSO THE GRIEF OF “TOO-LATE” TEARS:

Oh, how I pray that the Holy Spirit will come fully upon you and bring holy conviction on you if these verses relate to you: Hebrews 12:14-17 says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” “Too-Late Tears”!! “Too Late!!” Some determine they have time – but it was “too late”!

I close this chapter with James 4:7-10. I pray you receive it right now: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Would you please go to Revelation 21 and read carefully Verses 1-8, and verse 27!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“WHY GLORY IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST?”

I know as well as you that modern men major on an awful lot of things, but it certainly doesn’t mean that most men ‘glory in the Cross of Christ’! Modern men, separated from God, indulging fallen flesh, and possessing no interest in our Lord’s death on the Cross, are totally devoted to the ‘old man,’ to their fallen flesh or old sin nature, and though they do not know it or understand it, they are bound by the powers of darkness and serve like a slave of the old Roman empire!

Fallen men, away from God glory in themselves, glory in the accumulation of more and more money, glory in their fame or name that they make for themselves, glory in their indulgent, fleshly, sin natures, and really do celebrate and rejoice in their sinfulness!

I love what Oswald Chambers had to say when he said, “The evidence that I am delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me.” And sadly most men do not know that “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” You would think that would be good news for a sin-bound man, but some find their bondage enjoyable and saving faith a “downer”!

But in Isaiah 52:13-15 we read, “Behold, MY SERVANT shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider.” And that certainly is my desire for every alienated soul living apart from “amazing grace” that they shall see His face, hear His voice, sense His Spirit, and repent toward God and put their faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross!

I don’t know if you know it or ever really considered what happened to Jesus as He was beaten, battered, spat upon, and, yes, stripped naked as they nailed Him to the cruel Cross – it was shameful! And no Roman was ever put to death on a cross – but they nailed Jesus to the Cruel Cross! But the question is: “Why [should you] Glory In The Cross of Christ?”

If a ‘self-glorying’ man ever slows down long enough, opens his ears to gospel truth, becomes sick with ‘amiable religiosity,’ is convicted by the Holy Spirit of his sinful bondage, and pauses long enough and seriously enough to view naked Jesus on the Cross because of Jesus’ love for that man to forgive him and set him free from his sin problem – if “he lifts up Jesus in His mind and his heart, Jesus will draw him unto Himself” in saving grace and mercy!

This is why Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.264], “The calling of a New Testament worker is to uncover sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior [and I say Lord also], consequently he cannot be poetical, he must be sternly surgical. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful discourses. We have to probe straight down as deeply as God has probed us, to be keen in sensing the Scriptures which bring the truth home and to apply them fearlessly.” If that’s true – and it is – let’s begin:

WE ARE TO GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY SATISFACTION OF OUR SIN DEBT BEFORE HOLY GOD:

God set the terms of your ‘sin-debt’ forgiveness! Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of God’s grace…”

There is another vital verse that must penetrate all of our minds and hearts. It is I John 2:2 where John wrote: “And He Himself [Jesus] is the PROPITIATION for our sins, and not ours only, but also those of the whole world.”

What did John the Baptist say when he saw Jesus coming? “BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHICH TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD!!” One of the old, old hymns that still holds a special place in my heart is the hymn, “There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood”:

“There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains…The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day, And there may I, tho’ vile as he, Wash all my sins away…E’er since by faith I saw the stream Your flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die…Then in a nobler, sweeter song I’ll sing Your power to save, When this poor lisping, stammering tongue, Lies silent in the grave.” This hymn was written by William Cowper.

Paul told the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

I pray you have understanding of our Lord’s revelation! I Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also died for our sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…”

Isaiah 53:10 tells us: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” Why? Because Verse 11 says, “He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.”

Hallelujah! Jesus took our iniquities and nailed them to His Cross Himself as He suffered, bled, and died to take away your sin! Glory in Him!!

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS BECAUSE IT OPENS THE DOOR TO THE HOLY PLACE:

Hebrews 10:19 is so very, very clear. It says, “Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus…”

Do you know what the Great High Priest used to do before he entered the Holy Place in the tabernacle? Only the Great High Priest could go in once a year only, and that after great spiritual preparations! But in case he overlooked something and died on the spot as he entered the presence of God, he had tied a long rope around his ankle so the priests outside could drag him out from the presence of God. But NOW?

In Matthew 27:50-51 we read, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit…and behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom..” What is that all about? That is our Lord, through the Cross, opening the door to the Holy Presence to all of God’s people!

Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters the veil!” But you see no reason to glory in Christ Jesus?

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS BECAUSE IT REVEALS THE DEPTH OF GOD’S LOVE FOR US:

Romans 5:8 is so on target! It says, “But God proved His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

But I do believe some take God’s truth and twist it, determining for themselves, not His Word, that His forgiveness is a license to do as I please since God is so loving and forgiving! How preposterous and unbelieving is that! Do YOU really believe the tremendous price of Jesus’ suffering and death on the Cross was to give you an open door or free pass to sin as you please?

If, according to Isaiah 49:5, that God formed Jesus “to be His Servant” and through conversion we’ve been made One With Christ, how is that freeing us to do as we please in a ‘free-sinning lifestyle’?

Consider again John’s message in John 3:16-21! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

And, Romans 8:35 asks, and then answers: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” I have a question: “Does your trouble or troubles traumatize God? Does your bad experiences in life limit what God can do in your behalf? Are your “wounds” exempt from the wonders of His love, grace, and mercy?”

Listen to me – I’m telling you: “In Christ” even “bitter seasons” become “sweet blessings” because He will never leave you nor forsake you! Spurgeon preached a message that caught my attention. It was based on Ecclesiastes 11:3 which says: “If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth,” and his message was entitled “Black Clouds and Bright Blessings.” [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.11, p[.225].

Look with me at Ephesians 3:17-19! It says: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST which passes knowledge; THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.”

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE IT RELEASES THE VICTORY TO OVERCOME SIN IN OUR DAILY LIVES:

Romans 6:14 is so very, very clear: “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are no longer under the law (of sin and death!!), but under grace.” And God’s grace is greater and stronger than your old sin habit! But it does require our yielding ourselves as servants of our Lord and Savior and not to our old sin nature – we yield ourselves to the victory of His “Blood Atonement”!!

If our Lord and Savior said, “Go and sin no more,” then when do some professing believers say they can’t do anything but sin until they get to Heaven? How convenient for the compromisers!

If our Lord and Savior said, “Go and sin no more,” then why do fleshly pleasure seekers shut their ears and their hearts to the finished work of Christ on the Cross in their behalf? Do you remember Jesus having a woman caught in adultery brought to Him by the Pharisees? That’s John 8. And in verses 10-12 we read, When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Romans 6:22 tells us: “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE IT SHOWS THE WAY OF EXALTATION:

Come to Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus humbled Himself and was exalted, lifted up. Jesus made Himself of no reputation and was exalted. Jesus took the form of a bondservant and was exalted. Jesus humbled Himself and was exalted. Jesus was obedient to the point of death and was exalted. But as His “followers” we are free to choose a different way to be exalted? I don’t think so!

It was Phillips Brooks who said: “Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.” His guiltless blood was shed for men’s guilty hearts so that through repentance and faith they may be exalted with Him!

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY WAY SOVEREIGN GOD DETERMINED SALVATION BY FALLEN MEN COULD BE OBTAINED:

Acts 4:12 is the foundation of building a lasting ‘house of faith’ in God! It says: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And that name that saves? Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Emmanuel –“God with us”!

Paul told the Corinthians in I Corinthians 15:1-3, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, IF you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES…”

Do you understand ‘reconciled to God’? And if it is necessary, essential, and is by God’s determination alone – what does His Holy Word tell us? Romans 5:10 says, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

You are not put into a right relationship with Holy God because you are ‘religious,’ or because you do religious acts, or because you, at least, try to obey Him. You’re saved only through the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross, and you ‘rest’ in His finished work there! Religious or “In Christ”? Good deeds or “In Christ”? Church attendance or “In Christ”? Super efforts or “In Christ”? “Others speak well of me” or “The Spirit Himself bears witness with My Spirit”?

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE IT PROVIDES A NEW DYNAMIC OF TRUE LIFE:

In Hebrews 10:10, “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ, once for all…” What will? The will of God from before the foundation of the world – Christ Jesus as the Lamb slain in the mind and heart of God BEFORE the world was even established!

Hebrews 10:14-17 tells us: “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their Minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’”

“Sanctified”? That means ‘set apart’ by God for His glory, honor, and praise! “A New Dynamic”? Glorying in the Cross to the glory of God alone! “Living”? To honor Him alone and fulfill His eternal purposes!

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE THE CROSS WAS GOD’S WAY TO TRIUMPH OVER OUR ENEMY, SATAN:

In Colossians 2:13-15 we read: “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, having triumphed over them.”

John illumined our victory over the powers of darkness in I John 3:8 when he wrote: “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of Satan.” The works of Satan? To dismantle you! To so tempt you that you fall away! To capture you, yes, for Hell itself!

Look at Hebrews 2:14-15 and glory in the Lord Jesus’ rendering Satan powerless: “Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil:…and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

When the psalmist said in Psalms:136:24 that “[God] rescued us from our enemies, for His mercy endures forever,” don’t you think the devil and his demons are your enemy? And Jesus handled your dilemma with the devil! And you have reason to glory in Him!!

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE THROUGH THE CROSS THE GREAT POWER OF GOD IS RELEASED:

Just listen and receive I Corinthians 1:17-18, 23, which says: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should be made void…For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED!!”

Why was Paul sent? “TO PREACH THE GOSPEL” which we just learned that the word of the cross not only “saves us, reconciles us, redeems us,” it is also the great power of God released through us in an overcoming life, in spiritual warfare, and the release of His great power through us to honor Christ by ministering in His Name, by His available anointing and empowering!

You may face disillusioning battles but the power of the Cross promises you victory. You may face a world of trouble, but His Cross is the power of God to overcome. You may face closed doors, but the great power of God opens those doors or better doors.

WE GLORY IN THE CROSS OF JESUS BECAUSE THROUGH THE CROSS THE WORLD’S PULL HAS LOST ITS POWER:

Galatians 6:14 says it so encouragingly: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the CROSS of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The world pull, yes, has lost its power through the Lord Jesus. Settle it: ALL THAT MATTERS IS JESUS!

There’s an old hymn that says: “This world is not my home, I’m just a’passing through, My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.” That’s Heaven – my eternal home around God’s throne!

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE OR THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE?”

I wonder if you’ve ever said it or experienced it, “I am going to get this done right this time,” but again you fall flat on your face. You have great confidence in yourself and you try but you’re soon crushed. You’re blessed with lofty ambitions but you live with LIMP ACCOMPLISHMENTS. You dream and drool with the drippings of SELF-DETERMINATION but end up with the nightmare of constant failure.

You know the STANDARD of moral accountability and responsibility but find yourself flawed with the reality of SIN in the heart. You aim toward “the mark” and you miss it. You RACE toward the finish line of personal faithfulness and you stumble and fall.

You reach up for the shining star of light and “GLOW-FUL-NESS” but radiate only the darkness and despair and dismay of wanting to do right but wallowing in the wrong.

And the powerful truth of the revelation of the Word of God is that a self-sufficient, self-motivated man never finds the witness of a royal release while the weakness of self-willed resolve is hidden from our eyes.

The great depth of our own weakness is a mystery to a man who is disciplined and determined to make it on his own without any outside help including God. Do you understand? STRONG CONSTITUTIONS can be our undoing. Brave soldiers are beyond numbering in basic training, but when the real battle commences few heroes are to be found with medals of HONOR.

I’m not sure if you’ll be familiar with the story called “STYX” in which THETIS dipped ACHILLES everywhere but the heel by which she held him. He was so strong and so invulnerable wherever the water had touched him, but remember, the heel hadn’t been covered by the water, and all of a sudden PARIS shot the arrow into the heel, and ACHILLES DIED.

Most men think of themselves as completely INVULNERABLE but fail to remember there is a HELPLESS HEEL. The one thing I want you to know is that without the Spirit of Christ controlling our lives we are all “SHORN SAMSONS”! Dr. Watts had a verse in one of his hymns that said: “SAMSON, when his hair was lost, Met the Philistines to his cost; Shook his vain limbs with vast surprise, made feeble fight, and lost his eyes.”

YOUR strength is your greatest weakness! YOUR proud consciousness is a strong indication of personal corruptness! YOUR ship of flawed character has had a major leak since its inception and is about to sink! YOUR own flight to the gates of heaven on the wings of self-estimation of acceptable virtues has an unacceptable visa and passport.

Why did Jesus die if we could earn our own way to heaven? Why was His blood shed if your best could merit the favor of God? TRUTH IS NEEDED!!

Listen to Spurgeon [Vol.19,p373, Memorial Library, Spurgeon’s Sermons]: “Sinner, if you grow no sweeter flowers than the dunghill of your own nature can nourish, you will die amid poisonous weeds. If you never drink of better water than the filthy well of your own heart will yield, you will perish of thirst, or of a deadly drought.”

The weakness of personal resolve is a field of broken promises. The weakness of personal resolve is a playing field of despised vows. The weakness of personal resolve is a dirty pig-lot of vain imaginations.

I’m not asking you to get a better “grip” on yourself; I’m asking YOU to let go of yourself. I’m not asking you to make a better resolution of self-determination; I’m asking you to be finished with yourself. I’m not asking you to start another chapter entitled “Better Effort;” I’m asking you to give yourself the “Blessed Encounter” with Jesus.

I’m not asking you to make a new avowal of attachment to the rod of self-improvement; I’m asking you to surrender to the rod of Spirit-anointing!

Do you know what Romans 7:18-25 says? In Romans 7 there has been a big struggle in Paul’s life because as yet he hadn’t learned Romans 8! We’re talking about a believer, a follower, a new servant of Christ with a major war going on. How do we know? Look at Romans 7:22!! “For I DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD (or Word of God) ACCORDING TO THE INWARD MAN.” No unbeliever DELIGHTS in God’s Word. No unbeliever even has an inward man! But Paul did and you in Christ do!

Paul wisely shares his struggles. He wisely shares the maturing process. He wisely shares the absolute spiritual necessity of accepting one’s impotence to fulfill the purposes of God on his own. Do you remember Peter’s vow of determined resolution? Matthew 26:35, “Even if I have to die with You, Jesus, I WILL NOT DENY YOU!” “And so said all the disciples.” And the truth is, the disciples fled and Peter denied!

William Barclay said, [his Romans study, p.103], “The human will unstrengthened by Christ is bound to crack.” And it’s not that we’ve cracked – we’ve been shattered into pieces because we majored in our weaknesses rather than be mastered by the witness of the Holy Spirit!

Dr. Griffith Thomas, in his devotional commentary on Romans, [pps. 192-193], wrote: “The key to the meaning of the entire section is found in the repetition of “I” 30 times in the chapter, without a single mention of the Holy Spirit. It indicates what “I” am struggling to do, and utterly fail to do in my own strength.”

THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE OR THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE?

It’s said of Muhammed Ali while flying to one of his events that his flight got into some turbulence. The seat-belt sign came on and as usual the stewardess checked it out and all had complied but Ali. She asked him to fasten his seat-belt, but the “Lip” responded, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” And the stewardess replied, “Superman don’t need no airplane either.”

THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE: LISTEN TO GOD”S HOLY WORD!!

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE RECOGNITION OF FLESH’S IMPOTENCE: In Mark 14:37-38, as Jesus was going to Gethsemane to pray, he came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to them, “Could you not watch one hour?…Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK.” And whether or not YOU recognize the ‘flesh’s’ impotence, God Does! HE KNOWS about our weaknesses!

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE DETERMINATION AND JUDGMENT UPON THE ‘FLESH’: Listen to I Corinthians 15:50, [And by the way, ‘flesh’ is your old sin nature!], “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood CANNOT INHERIT the kingdom of God.” We must learn quickly, early, life’s crossroads – Flesh or Spirit? Old man or new man? Sinner or saint? Sin nature or partaker of the divine nature? Earthly living only or Heavenly minded?

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE DECLARATION OF HOPE ONLY IN CHRIST JESUS: John 1:12-13 tells us: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who will believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, NOR of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE INSIGHT THAT PROMOTION OF THE FLESH LEADS TO A GREATER PERVERSION OF THE SAME: Look at Romans 6:19, “I speak in human terms because of the WEAKNESS OF YOUR FLESH. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, AND OF LAWLESSNESS LEADING TO MORE LAWLESSNESS…” Do you understand that? When ‘religious flesh’ gets involved it builds a bigger BARRIER between Holy God and sinful man! When ‘willful flesh’ is released for either good or bad, it leads to a greater divide between presumption and personal salvation!

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE EXPLANATION THAT THE “HOW TO” NEVER COMES TO FRUITION WHEN I’M “INTO” WHAT GOD IS “ONTO” IN HOLY JUDGMENT AND CONDEMNATION: What did Paul say in Galatians 2:20? “I am crucified with Christ…” My evil and my good were both nailed to the Cross! But, for Paul, in Romans 7:18-19, he’s been struggling because his ‘religious self’ rather than his ‘redeemed, regenerated self’ has been in control. Listen to Romans 7:18-19, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) NOTHING GOOD DWELLS; for to WILL is present with me, but HOW TO perform what is good I do not find…For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, THAT I PRACTICE.”

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF RESOLVE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE REVELATION THAT SELF-PROMOTION NEVER PLEASES GOD: Romans 8:5 is so very clear: “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh..” And the result? Romans 8:7-8 says, “the fleshly, (carnal) mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be…So, then, THOSE WHO ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD.” Don’t forget what ‘flesh’ is biblically: your old sin nature!

THERE’S THE WEAKNESS OF THE FLESH BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE UNVEILING OF FLESH’S ULTIMATE END: Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally (or fleshly) minded IS death…!!” Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh YOU WILL DIE…” Alexander Maclaren put it like this so plainly and powerfully: “That which of all things unfits man for the reception of Christ as Savior, is not gross profligacy and outward, vehement transgression, but it is self-complacency, fatal self-righteousness and self-sufficiency.”

Jean Nicolas Grau, in the “Alliance Weekly,” wrote: “Do not shelter the mirror which reflects your soul’s lack of beauty; rather welcome the truth, and believe that next to the knowledge of God nothing is so precious as the knowledge of self.”

Listen to James Milner!! “While a man rests on his own merits for acceptance with God, it is of little consequence whether he be a pagan idolater, or a proud, ignorant Pharisee. – I do not know which of the two is most distant from the kingdom of God.”

Now, let’s shift gears, and get in full throttle!! LET’S LOOK AT “THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE”:

Come to Romans 8:1-2!! “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, WHO DO NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, but (WALK) according to the Spirit…For the law of the SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Notice, in fact, in verse 4, that EVEN “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled IN US who do not walk according to the flesh BUT WALK ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT…” In John 16:7, prior to His departure, Jesus said to the disciples, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage (necessary) that I go away; for if I do not go away, the HELPER will not come to you: but if I depart, I WILL SEND HIM TO YOU.”

THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE BECOMES REALITY BECAUSE OF OUR “BIRTHING” IN THE SPIRIT: In John 3 Jesus said to Nicodemus in verse 3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born AGAIN, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.” Verse 5 then says, Jesus speaking, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless on is born of the water (of the Word) AND the Spirit, he cannot ENTER the kingdom of God.” And then in verse 6 Jesus explains: “That which is born of the flesh is FLESH, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

In the natural we’re all born physically alive but spiritually dead to God. Romans 3:10-18 says, “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one…There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God…They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one…Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit…the poison of asps is under their lips…Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness…Their feet are swift to shed blood…Destruction and misery are in their ways…And the way of peace they have not known…There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

OH, BUT WE’VE COME TO CHRIST JESUS! How? John 6:44 says, Jesus speaking, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;” WHAT A REVELATION!! And LISTEN! Because of true “repentance toward God” AND “faith in the finished work of Christ” alone at Calvary, we’ve come out of DEATH into LIFE by the same Spirit who raised Christ from death in Joseph’s borrowed tomb. Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, HE WHO RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD WILL ALSO GIVE LIFE TO YOUR MORTAL BODIES THROUGH HIS SPIRIT WHO DWELLS IN YOU.”

In fact Romans 8:9 clearly says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. NOW IF ANYONE DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NOT HIS.” BIRTHED AND INDWELT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! GLORY!

THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE BECOMES REALITY BECAUSE OF THAT ADDED BLESSING OF OUR “BAPTISM” IN THE SPIRIT: Right before His ascension, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples. Look at John 20:19-22, “Peace be with you…” [What is that? It’s a fruit of the Spirit!]. He said again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Listen to verse 22, And when Jesus had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’!” IMPARTATION!!

Then come with me to Acts 1:4-8, 2:1-4, And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to part from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, “you have heard from Me.; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Then in Acts 2:1-4 we read: When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. What do you see in these two different passages?

Well, there is an Indwelling – but also an Overflowing. There is a residence – but also a release. There is an enveloping – but also an enduement of power from on high. There is the presence – but also a powerful anointing. The Holy Spirit is the Mighty Breath of God imparting Divine Life, but He’s also the Mighty Wind releasing God’s directional force, and also the mighty river sweeping us up in a delightful flow of heavenly blessings!

Don’t ever forget Acts 19:1-6!! And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”

You’ll remember that John the Baptist went out into the wilderness of Judea preaching and multitudes came to him. In Matthew 3:11 he said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall Baptize YOU WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND WITH FIRE.” Is there the spiritual fire of God in your bones?

HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM IS FOUR ILLUMINATING REALITIES: 1) IT’S A CERTAIN EXPERIENCE! They tarried, they anticipated, they obeyed, and a transformation occurred. Listen to Arthur Wallis! (“In The Day Of Thy Power,” pps.69-70), “These who but a few days before had slunk into the upper room and bolted the door for fear of the men who had murdered their Master, are now standing in the open and alleging that this Jesus is alive, and accusing their hearers of murder. Peter, who a month and a half before had denied his Lord at the jibe of a servant-girl, now stands before the multitudes in the very city where He was crucified, and asserts that God had made this Jesus ‘both Lord and Christ.’ Certainly something very definite has happened to these believers…IT IS THE BIRTHRIGHT OF EVERY CHILD OF GOD TO RECEIVE THAT ANOINTING, AND TO KNOW THAT HE OR SHE HAS RECEIVED IT.”

2) IT’S A CLARIFYING EXPERIENCE! It’s so evident: “He’s not ‘fleshly,’ he “walks in the Spirit.” It’s not the ordinary for her, “she walks in the supernatural.” There’s nothing ordinary about them, “they walk in the dimension of the extraordinary!”

In Acts 2:5-18 read carefully these dynamic events in the early church! And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days,” says God, “That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, and on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” It happened just as God said: He clarified it for them!

3) IT’S A COMPULSIVE EXPERIENCE! “Compulsive”? It means “The application of a force that is irresistible.” Luke 24:49 says, “Clothed with power from on high.” Acts 10:38 speaks of “anointed…with the Holy Spirit and with power.

To the church at Corinth, I Corinthians 2:4-5, Paul said, “And my speech and my p[reaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but IN DEMONSTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND OF POWER…THAT YOUR FAITH SHOULD NOT BE IN THE WISDOM OF MEN BUT IN THE POWER OF GOD.”

E. Paul Hovey wrote: “The word ‘Comforter’ as applied to the Holy Spirit needs to be translated by some vigorous term. Literally, it means ‘with strength.’ Jesus promised His followers that “The Strengthener” would be with them forever. This promise is no lullaby for the faint-hearted. It is a blood transfusion for courageous living.” AMEN!!

4) IT’S A COVETED EXPERIENCE! In Matthew 5:6 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED.” Are you ‘hungry’ for Spirit-anointing?

In Isaiah 44:1-3 we read, “Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you; ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.” Do you understand how ready God is to pour out His power and anointing on a thirsty, hungry soul?

THE WITNESS OF A ROYAL RELEASE BECOMES REALITY AS WE BEGIN TO RECOGNIZE OURSELVES THE BLESSINGS OF SPIRIT-ANOINTED LIVING: Consider the Blessing of Confidence and Assurance: Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

Let it well up within you: “I KNOW, I REALLY KNOW, I’M A CHOSEN GENERATION, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, GOD’S OWN SPECIAL PERSON, I’M NOW A PART OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD! HOW DO I KNOW? Because the Spirit of God has written it on my heart!”

Consider the Blessing of Unshakable Awareness: I John 3:24 says, “…And hereby we know that Jesus abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us.”

Consider the Blessing of Unveiled Encouragement: John 14:26, “But, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” In fact, in Luke 12:12, Jesus assures us, “For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.”

Consider the Blessing of An Opened or Closed Door: Acts 13:2 says, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” OPEN DOOR! But in Acts 16:6 we read, “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.” CLOSED DOOR!

Jonathan Edwards, one of God’s appointed-anointed leaders of the Great Awakening wrote: “God has had it much on His heart, from all eternity, to glorify His dear and only begotten Son; and there are some special seasons that He appoints to that end, wherein he comes forth with Omnipotent Power to fulfill His promise and oath to Him; and these times are times of remarkable pouring out of His Spirit, to advance His kingdom; such a day is a day of His power.”

And here you and I are. What about us? Will it be, “The Weakness of Resolve or the Witness of a Royal Release?” Will it be, our testimony, our epistle, read of all men, as that of the Flesh or that of God’s Spirit through us? Will it be self-determination or Spirit Dependence?

Will it be active, animal like acceleration or mighty anointing of His Spirit? Will it be a shallow stream of self-effort or an ocean of omnipotent occupation? Will it be fleshly energized excitement or a Spirit- quickening of the saints in the fires and rivers and baptisms of the Holy Spirit?

Will it be man at his best that falls so short or God unveiling Himself in irresistible power and anointing? Will it be man taking the field to play his understanding of the religious game or God’s Spirit at bat in the excellence of His extraordinary enduements on the evangels of the faith?

Will it be us in our masterful, fleshly manipulations or the manifestation of God’s Falling Fire kindled in Heaven and in His heart?

God gives us a promise in Ezekial 34:26. It says, “I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their seasons; there shall be showers of blessing.”

And I believe our nation and our churches have not been in seasons and showers of blessing, but in spiritual drought and dryness because we’ve tried hard and at the same time resisted the outpouring of the Holy Spirit! And God is saying, “There’s going to be a change. Get ready. The Fire is going to fall!!”

Listen to Spurgeon’s powerful prayer and let’s make it our own: “O God, send us the Holy Ghost! Give us both the breath of spiritual life and the fire of unconquerable zeal. O You are our God, answer us by fire, we pray! Answer us both by WIND and FIRE, and then we shall see You to be God indeed. The kingdom comes not, and the work is flagging. Oh, that You would send the wind and the fire! You WILL do this when we are all of one accord, all blessing, all expecting, all prepared by prayer…

Lord, bring us to this waiting state! God, send us a season of glorious disorder. Oh, for a sweep of the wind that will set the seas in motion, and make our ironclad brethren, now lying so quietly at anchor, to roll from stem to stern!…

Oh, for the fire to fall again – fire which shall affect the most stolid! Oh, that such fire might first sit upon the disciples, and then fall all around! O God, You are ready to work with us today even as You did then. Stay not, we beseech You, but work at once…

Break down every barrier that hinders the incoming of Your might! Give us now both hearts of flame and tongues of fire to preach Your reconciling word, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“ON WHAT DO YOU MAJOR?”

In Philippians 1:21 Paul shared his heart: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Think about that with me: “For to me…” My choice, my selection, my determination…! But remember, it’s God Himself who reaches out to us! In fact, in Proverbs 1:24-25, we read: “Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out My hands and no one regarded, because you disdained all My counsel, and would have none of My rebuke…Verse 26, I’ll laugh at your calamity..” God said a similar word in Jeremiah 7:13, “And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer.”

And then, “For to me to live…”. For most it is a life-long search for ‘life’ but always in the wrong places with the wrong persons and for the wrong reasons. But Jesus said in John 10:9-10, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief [Satan the liar], does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

“For to me to live IS CHRIST”… Jesus IS the eternal reality of Heaven’s pre-ordained plan and blessing for fallen men. And without Christ we are separated from God, lost, on the wrong foundation, majoring on the minors that sound out the ultimate chord of sadness, separation, and senselessness instead of the desires of God for us. Augustine said it: “Restless are our souls, O Lord, until we rest in You.”

Do I major on my faults and failures or on Christ’s strengths and His redemptive conquests? Do I major on un-acceptance before others or that I am “accepted in the Beloved”? Do I major on the inevitable defeats or on His eternal victories that always cause me to triumph, declaring me a “winner” in my journey?

Do I major on my fear that no one really loves me or that God proved His love for me in that while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me? Do I major on a search for personal identity or do I major on the fact of a true, fulfilling identity of who I am “in Christ”? Do I major on my sinfulness and the filthy rags of attempts at self-justification or on my declared redemptive righteousness “in Christ”?

Do I major on my weaknesses in a debilitating fashion or magnify my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me? Do I major on the oldness in the old sin nature or on the fact that I am a new creation in Christ and declared by God to be a ‘saint’ or one set apart to the glory of God?

Do I major on cultural or familial curses that want to dominate me or on the kingdom of Christ and the faith-filled blessings of His kingdom that liberates me?

Do I major with the psalmist on the sad fact that no man really cares for my soul or on the glad fact that God has loved me with an everlasting love and drawn me with His lovingkindness? Do I major on the futility of the fleshliness of First Adam or on the finality of Spirit-Life in the Second Adam?

Do I major on what I was before Christ or on who I am in Christ? Do I major on the reigning death of my old sin nature or the reign of righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior?

Do I major on the reality of earthly opposition, that so many are against me, OR on the blessed truth that Almighty God is for me? Do I major on my own personal ineptness in things of the Spirit-realm or that I am more than conqueror through Him who loved me?

Do I major on my feebleness in human effort of being a witness to my world around me or on the fullness in divine oneness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do I major on my fears of war with the powers of darkness or that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under my feet?

Do I major on my inability and shortcoming of impacting my world effectively or on Him who is able to establish me redemptively in my world? Do I major on my personal poverty in the Spirit-realm or that I am already enriched in everything spiritually by my Lord and Savior?

Do I major on my earthly learning that never brings me to the knowledge of the truth or on the benefit of the new blood covenant in Christ where I receive His wisdom and His mind? Do I major on my continual war with temptation or on the truth that my God made a way of escape from it?

Do I major on my restlessness in life or that there is rest in Christ now and a rest that remains for the people of God? Do I major on that in my life that is unsure and fading or upon the anchor of my soul that is both sure and steadfast and which enters into the Presence of God behind the veil?

Do I major on my tendency to wander and draw back or upon the faith and trust and reliance upon Him that causes me to press in to the saving of my soul? Do I major on my sorrowful chastenings or do I look beyond to the yielding of the peaceable fruit of righteousness by which God trains me?

Do I major on all that can be shaken in my life or do I rest and receive in its fullness the kingdom of Christ which cannot be shaken? Do I major on the passion for the praise and honor of men or am I consumed with the passion for the praise of God alone?

Do I major on the works of the law by which no one is ever justified or on the deeds of the law written on the tablets of my heart by the finger of God through the blood of Christ? Do I major on the fallen life of my former self without Christ or on the redeemed life in Christ who loved me and gave Himself for me?

Do I major on setting aside the grace of God in me and focusing on “grit” or do I stand in the grace of God and focus on His glory as His gift to me? Do I major on being made perfect by the flesh or do I major on having been perfected by the Spirit?

Do I major on the weak and beggarly elements of life that leads again to bondage or on the joy of the Lord that is my strength and the blessed revelations that lead me to true freedom and liberty? Do I major on the entanglements of the world, the flesh, and the devil that leads again to bondage or do I stand fast in the liberty by which Christ Jesus made me free?

Do I major on the less of my former, unredeemed life or on the “much more” of reconciliation, being continually saved by Christ’s Life?

Do I major on what I was without Christ, without strength and ungodly, or on the revelation, Ramah Truth, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and by His grace be being continually transformed to the kingdom of the godly?

Do I major on personal condemnation incited by the accuser of the brethren or on a powerful confidence inspired by the affirmer and advocate of the elect? Do I major on the power of sin in the old man or on the truth of power over sin because I know I died with Christ at the Cross, my old body of sin, and that now sin is no longer my master but Jesus is?

Do I major on the law of sin and death or on the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus who has made me free from the law of sin and death? Do I major on the emphasis of a carnal mind that is enmity against God or on the Leadership of the Spirit that is life and peace?

Do I major on the program of “of me,” “through me,” “for me,” or upon the ministry of “of Him,” “through Him,” and “to Him” to whom be glory forever? Do I major on making constant provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust or do I put on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Do I major on the kingdom of food and drink or on the Kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost? Do I major on the emptying of my life of faith of all confidence or assurance or on the God of hope who fills me with all joy and peace in believing that I may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit?

Do I major on my sadnesses and sorrows or on the provision of Holy God that I can live before others with joy by the will of God and may be refreshed and renewed with them as I walk by faith? Do I major on my earthly, fleshly house that is daily dying or on the eternal Temple of God which is my body where the Holy Spirit of God dwells?

Do I major on the kingdom that is word only of men or on the Kingdom that is of God filled with Holy Ghost supernatural power from on high? Do I major on the mindful discouraging picture of what I was or on the truth that I’ve been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God?

Do I major on the constant attempts of the thievery of your time or on the redemption of your time and the revelation of truth that you may serve the Lord without distraction? The Christ-Life in you is not a small compartment but the total summation of ALL HE IS and ALL HE DOES through your available life!

Do I major on the sounding brass and clanging cymbals or on the greatness of that which abides: FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE? Do I major on the fact that I have many adversaries as a disciple of Christ or on the fact that through it all God has opened a great and effective door for me?

Do I major on that which was buried with Christ and it stinks or on the fact that through the new birth you and I are of God now and by His grace we have become the fragrance of Christ? Do I major on the letter that kills or on the Spirit who gives life? Do I major on the ministry of condemnation from the devil or on the ministry of righteousness that comes from God abounding in His glory?

Do I major on the veiled face of an unrepentant heart or on your unveiled face by the grace of God that continually transforms you into the same image from glory to glory? Do I major on despair because heaven’s treasures are in an earthern vessel not discerning it’s God’s design so the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us?

Do I major on the fact that I’ve lost heart because my outward man is perishing or on the glorious fact that the inward man is renewed day by day? Do I major on selfish living for the satisfaction of SELF or on living no longer for myself but for Him who died for me and rose again?

Are you yielded to the domination of the old man or on the discipline of the new creation miracle of God? Do you major on the restriction of your own affections or on the marvelous truth that the love of God has been poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit who was given to you?

Do you major on the reality of trouble on every side, that without are conflicts and within are fears, or on the reality that nevertheless God comforts the downcast? Do you major on the poverty of your personal soul life or on the grace of the Lord Jesus who for your sake became poor, that you through His poverty might be made rich?

Do you major on the emptiness and void of your former life without Christ or that in Christ by the grace of God you always have all sufficiency in all things to every good work? Do you major on measuring yourself by yourself and comparing yourself among others or on the Holy Blessed Gospel that as He is, so am I in this world?

Do you major on the thorns that pierce your life or on the grace that is sufficient to see you through? Do you major on what was crucified with Christ, dead and buried, or on that resurrection life, hope, and power of God?

Do you major on the futility of your former self with all its deeds of fleshliness or on the fruit of the Spirit? Do you major on your doubts and uncertainties or on the fact that, having believed and trusted, you’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise?

Do you major on those accusations of the powers of darkness of your former emptiness or on the truth of Jesus, the fullness of Him who fills all in all? Do you major on the fall-out of having been a child of wrath or on the fill-up of the truth that I’m a son or daughter of God now by grace and faith?

Do you major on your perplexities, conflicts, and anxieties, or on Him who is your Peace? Do you major on the heartache of living in a loveless world or on the joy of knowing the love of Christ which surp[asses knowledge?

Do you major on your own personal ineptness in your spiritual journey or on God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think? Do you major on your sadness for no greater progress in your spiritual maturity or on the confidence that He who began the good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ?

Do you major on the failures of the past or on forgetting the things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are before you, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? Do you major on the temporariness of your earthly home or on the blessed truth that your citizenship is in heaven?

Do you major on all the sad events of your life and maybe even multiple sorrows or do you REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS? Do you major on being anxious about everything or in everything do you pray to God and find the peace that passes all understanding?

Do you major on the kingdom and the power of darkness around you or on the holy truth that God has translated you out of that kingdom into the Kingdom of the Son of His love? Do you major on the emphasis of your reaching earthly stardom for earthly glory and recognition or on the emancipation of your soul and spirit as you discover Christ only ‘in you’ is the hope of God’s glory?

Do you major on the shadows of former things from the past, even in the historic events of scripture yesterday or on the substance Who is Christ? Do you major on the involvement of earthly attractions or on setting your mind on the things above?

Do you major on your inability to speak the Gospel like Moses and Jeremiah both did or on the revelation that you’ve been approved by God, entrusted with the Gospel to speak faithfully its claims not as pleasing men but God?

Do you major on the establishment of your place in the world or that God desires to establish our hearts blameless in holiness before our God? Do you major on your short-comings or on the gracious fact that God counted you worthy of the Kingdom of God?

Do you major on your unworthiness of Heavenly Kingdom Life or that God from the beginning CHOSE YOU FOR SALVATION through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth? Do you major on the reality of having made shipwreck of your faith at some point or on the rescue of God like the restoration of Peter?

Do you major on the mystery of iniquity or on the mystery of godliness? Do you major on the earthly opposition to the Gospel that sometimes makes you feel ashamed of the testimony of our Lord ( the Gospel is an offense, it brings reproach!), or do you major on the glorious truth that He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us before time began?

Do you major on what you don’t know about the things of God or on what you do know – whom you believed and how you once were persuaded that He is able to keep what you’ve committed against that day?

Do you major on the discouragement of having been a vessel of dishonor or on the promise that he who cleanses himself WILL BE a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master and prepared for every good work?

Do you major on the forsaking of friends and family because of your faith or on the glorious truth that the Lord stands with you and strengthens you, delivering you from every evil work and preserving you for His heavenly kingdom?

Do you major on earthly blessings alone in this present age or are you majoring on looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ? Do you major on the hopelessness of your flesh or on the hopefulness in Christ that is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which does enter the veil of God’s Holy Presence?

Do you major on the prayerlessness of men in your behalf or on Christ who ever lives to make intercession for YOU? Do you major on religiosity and ‘churchy-anity’ or on pure and undefiled religion before God the Father?

Do you major on the aftermath of your old sin nature, on the burial clothes from your death in trespasses and sins or on the truth that you’ve been made a partaker of the divine nature? Do you major on the disappointment of lost battles in the spiritual war or on the truth that you are of God, you HAVE overcome, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world?

Do you major on the fact that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one or that you are of God and have overcome him through the blood of the Lamb, through the word of your own testimony, and that you truly don’t love your life, even unto death?’ Do you major on your ‘trip-ups’ or on Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy?

I don’t really know what all this is about…why the Lord poured these questions into me. But I was reading Revelation 3 as the Lord spoke to the pastor or messenger at Sardis, and in Verse 2, Jesus said: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”

And I know in one sense He is saying, “You’ve not been mature in your understanding of who YOU are IN CHRIST.” Proverbs 23:7 says: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Out of the passion of his soul for the church at Rome, Paul wrote: Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world but be [being] transformed – BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND – that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

With the renewing of your mind fresh this very moment, consider Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever thing are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – think on these things.”

And we know from I Peter 2:10- that though once we were not a people, “but..now [we are] the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy!!”

Have YOU obtained mercy? Are YOU the person of God, His son, His daughter? Are you His own special people? Are you a holy nation? Are you a royal priesthood? Are you the chosen race?

Listen carefully: I’m not asking you to take the name of the Lord your God in vain – I’m asking you to take His name in Victory!! Confess? That means agree – same the same thing as:

“I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!” “I AM BLESSED WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS!” “I AM MADE ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST!” “I AM SEATED WITH CHRIST IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES!” “I AM BORN AGAIN!” “AS JESUS CHRIST IS IN THE WORLD, SO AM I.” “I AM BORN AGAIN BY THE WORD OF GOD.” “I AM KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD.” “I WAS REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!” I AM COMPLETE IN CHRIST LACKING NOTHING.” “MY SINS WERE NAILED TO HISW CROSS – THE BLOOD COVERS THEM.” “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!”

And on and on and on, God celebrates who we are “in Christ!!” Why don’t you celebrate right now, and continue to identify who YOU ARE IN CHRIST!

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“SAD DEFECTIONS OR SURE ELECTIONS?”

Every pastor with a shepherd’s heart and every small part of the Body of Christ knows that the greatest calamity that occurs to a fellowship of believers is not outward assaults from the Church’s or disciples’ enemies, but inward assaults from wounds in the house of our friends, from the wiliness of warped false teachers, from even the wars of the apostates and traitors to the truth.

Every true shepherd’s heart and even every small part of the Body of Christ has grieved and been broken-hearted over supposed sanctified selfishness when people save themselves for themselves and have nothing to pour out for the greater body of Christ.

Every true shepherd’s heart and even every small part of the Body of Christ has experienced a Judas with his sop and his subtle, severing kisses and maybe hollow hand-shakes. Every true shepherd’s heart and even every small part of the Body of Christ knows the sickness of slander, the sickness of a ‘good-by, been good to know you salute, the disease of loose tongues, and the death of divisiveness of lies about God’s people – and they have no shame. But we can overcome all that.

The greatest heart-ache, the heaviest, sickening feeling and emotion that God’s people experience is when there is out and out DEFECTION. They are here, they are with us – but then, even though we didn’t see it or sense it, they’re going back to Egypt!

Numbers 11:5 says, “We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic.” AND THEY TURN BACK! Numbers 11 is not much different from John 6. There had been a great deliverance, a heavenly provision; it’s not manna out of heaven now but the “living bread” and the call of true discipleship to “eat My flesh and drink My blood!” Then listen to John 6:60, 66:

“Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can understand it?’…Verse 66, FROM THAT TIME MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WENT BACK AND WALKED NO MORE WITH HIM!!”

Then Jesus turned to the 12 and said, Verse 67, “Do you also want to go away?” And Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!”

The devil is a “genius” at finding ways to make run-a-ways from the faith to really feel at home in the strange land and making “feeding swine” feel as if it’s a royal service.

Every “Samson” has his “Delilah” who is out to say “The Philistines are UPON YOU, Samson.” They long to see you grinding at the mill, spiritually blinded to your hope and help, chained to them and not to Christ!

Every DISCIPLE has not only a demon but Legions that stand at his door demanding, demeaning, deceiving, desiring to steal, kill, and destroy – but you don’t have to open that door!

On the High Mount of Transfiguration we stand in the Glory-cloud of God’s Presence and right below us the devil rages in a young son in an epileptic fit. If Satan will ask of Christ Jesus to bow down and worship him, will he bid to us, call to us, come to us in frequent solicitation to cross the line and stand on his side? You can bet your last dollar on that – unless you already are His lo0ck, stock, and barrel!

WHAT IS IT THAT SO DRAWS TO THE DARK CLOUDS OF SAD DEFECTIONS?

THERE IS THE SAD DEFECTION OF ANSWERING THE CALL OF THE WORLD AROUND US:

Song of Solomon 6:13 says: “Return, return, O Shulamite: Return, return, that we may look upon you!” I want you to notice several things about the timing of the call to defection! For one, it’s in the high moment of spiritual ecstasy – she’s just heard from Jesus! Verse 4 says, “O my love, you are as beautiful as TIRZAH, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners!”

It’s in the holy moment of confidence and assurance! Verse 3 says, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He feeds me among the lilies.”

It’s in the hand moment of busyness about the Father’s business. Verse 11 says, “I went down to the garden of nuts to see the verdure of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranates had bloomed.” AND HERE COMES THE WORLD!! “Return, return, O Shulamite: Return, return that we may look upon you!”

That’s the call that appeals to pride: “that we may look upon you!” It’s the call of past haunts, pleasurable indulgences, the call of paralyzing persons of emptiness and shallowness, appealing to one’s flesh! The voices of the sirens are the calls to the old slavery of the sisterhood of selfishness and the manhood of ego-madness, manipulation, and misery – all coated with the poisonous sugar or poisoned essence of peppermint – looks sweet, then kills!

It seems so innocent, so beneficial, so pleasurable! And then, ensnared, it becomes so deathly! 2 Timothy 4:10 says, “…Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

Spurgeon, in his “Spurgeon’s Sermons, [Memorial Library, Vol.15, p.18], wrote: “When the world loves the holy man it is the love of the vulture for the sick lamb.”

It’s why J.B. Phillips said: “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold!”

THERE ALSO IS THE SAD DEFECTION OF NEGLECTING THE HOLY SPIRIT:

In Matthew 25:1-13 listen carefully: “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were wise took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

You should know and receive faithfully Galatians 5:16, “I say then, ‘Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” But what if you do? What if you’re deceived, distracted, detoured away from following the Holy Spirit’s lead? Look at Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

And I’m convinced this is why Paul was so clear to the church at Thessalonica! In I Thessalonians 5:19, he said: “DO NOT QUENCH THE SPIRIT!” To the Ephesians he wrote in Ephesians 4:30, “And do not GRIEVE the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

The prophetic word of Isaiah 63:8-10 reveals so much about God’s people and their relationship with the Holy Spirit AND God’s concern for His own people’s reaction to the Holy Spirit. He said: ‘Surely they are My people, children who will not lie.’ So He became their Savior…In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old…But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.”

To neglect the Holy Spirit is: 1) Shutting the door to conviction – John 16:8 says, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin…” 2) Shutting the door to remembrance – John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” 3) Shutting the door to guidance into Truth – John 16:13, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…” 4) Shutting the door to testimony and the glorifying of Christ – John 15:26 says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” 5) Shutting the door to the Spirit is deciding to live by the letter only that kills – 2 Corinthians 3:6 “who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Hebrews 10:29 makes mention, yes, of the danger of “insulting the Spirit of grace…!” Yield to the Spirit, don’t ‘yelp’ like a deranged dog!

THERE IS THE SAD DEFECTION BECAUSE OF AN ATTITUDE OF COMPLACENCY AND INDIFFERENCE:

Look with me at Luke 12:35-41! “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them to sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do you speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”

It might be best for us all to consider carefully whether or not we’ve been truly devoted to the honor of Christ alone or have we drifted into complacency or indifference Why? In Luke 12 look at verses 42-46! And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”

“Cut in pieces”? “Sweet Jesus” doing that? In Jeremiah 34:18 & 20 the Lord speaks: “And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it – Verse 20, “I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.”

Complacency and indifference is like partaking of poisoned “Kool-Aid”!

THERE IS THE SAD DEFECTION BECAUSE OF THE BIRTHING OF A GREATER LOVE FOR SENSUAL INDULGENCE THAN THE SACRED LOVE OF HOLY GOD:

In Proverbs 21:16 we read, “A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the congregation of the dead.” What congregation do you want to dwell in? The congregation of the dead or the congregation of the living? For you, is it the congregation of ‘fleshly’ pleasure or the congregation of the priceless pleasure of Holy Presence?

In I Thessalonians 4:3-8 we see opposite points of view as to a selection of a lifestyle that honors or shames Holy God: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”

Didn’t Paul tell young Timothy, I Timothy 5:6, “…she who lives in pleasure is DEAD while she lives.” You need to be so aware and alerted that all around you in a godless society are those who take pleasure in unrighteousness!

Spurgeon, [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.12, p.303], wrote: “Certain it is that the pleasures of sin for a season fascinate their minds till they sacrifice their souls at the shrine of sordid vanity…they have renounced the pleasures that never pall, the immortal hopes that never fail, and turned their backs upon that blessed Savior who gives and feeds the tastes for joys unspeakable, for joys of glory full…,” for transient joys, temporary pleasures, and tantalizing terrors that seemed so full of good and acceptable.

THERE IS THE SAD DEFECTION BECAUSE OF ONE’S MEDDLING IN MYTHS AND SPECULATIONS MAKING SHIPWRECK OF THEIR VESSEL OF FAITH:

In I Timothy 1:18-19, Paul wrote: “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophesies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck…” And I have no doubt that Paul was referring to what he’d already written in verses 3-7 of the same chapter: “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia – remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”

He gave Timothy a greater challenge in 2 Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

Do you understand that for some myths and speculations become more palatable than the meat and surety of God’s historical, holy Word? Have YOU grasped the reality that to eat His flesh and to drink His blood is to take on Christ Jesus – His Spirit, His way of bringing about victory; that death, burial, and resurrection is the only path to true salvation?

And, as a result, the Gospel becomes offensive to some!! Remember the disciples saying to Jesus, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

Do you realize how many people say, “I just don’t understand what the Bible is saying,” when in reality the TRUTH of God’s Holy Word has clashed with their personal prejudices and their pride? Do you understand why many choose to walk no more with Him because His cause, His character, His claims and demands of discipleship kick against the goads and they won’t have it any longer? THIS FAR AND NO MORE, for them!

Can’t you see that private stronghold, those long-held habits, or maybe their favorite ‘pleasures’ finally bringing one to that place where they say, ‘No More!’ and in an unholy huff, they turn away?

THERE IS THE SAD DEFECTION BECAUSE THE GOD OF GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE HAS TO TAKE A BACK-SEAT TO THE GOD OF GREED:

In I Timothy 6:6-11 Paul wrote, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Luke 12:13-15 tells us of a man who sought to get Jesus to help settle a dispute over an inheritance: Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Yet, how many do you know who would react to Jesus Himself saying to Him brazenly, “O YES IT IS!” And they walk away from the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

In his book, A Minister’s Obstacles, Ralph Turnbull has a chapter entitled “The Dry Rot of Covetousness”. [Fleming Revell Com., 1954, p.26 & p.32]. And many never know that the disease of the dry rot of covetousness is consuming not only their lives but their faith and ministries.

Turnbull quoted D.R. Davies in his “The Sin of Our Age” calling attention to this “dogma of increasing wants.” And once the seed of greed is implanted in the heart it ever grows in an increasing appetite for more and more.

Chuck Swindoll in “The Quest For Character,” [p.22], wrote: “Nobody ever withstood greed without a fight that was both relentless and fierce. The god FORTUNE dies a slow, painful death.”

But please REMEMBER – it’s not money but “the love of money” that is the root of all kinds of evil. Money or greed becomes an idol in the heart that men bow down to! Now…

Remember we began with the question, “Sad Defections Or Sure Elections?” Come with me to 2 Peter 1:2-11, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” NOTICE, “SURE ELECTIONS”!

• In the context of 2 Peter 1, we CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THAT SALVATION IS NOT ONLY DEPENDENCE BUT ALSO A “DOING OF THE WORD.” It’s actively “Standing On The Promises!”

The overcoming attitude of “sure election” is the attitude of “add-to-it is.” Salvation is not stationary but a progressive walk in the way, the will, and the Word of God.

Our walk in salvation is not only EARNING A LIVING but BUILDING A LIFE! It’s why in I Peter 2:2 Peter said, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow up into your salvation.”

2. We know our calling and election is SURE BECAUSE WE ARE “PRESSING IN TO CHRIST!!” I Peter 2:21 says, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.”

It’s that spirit and passion of Paul in Philippians 3:7-14, “But what things were gain to me, these things I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

3. We know our calling and election is sure, being made sure, BECAUSE WE LOVE SIN LESS AND LESS AND LONG TO FULFILL ONLY THE WILL OF GOD MORE AND MORE:

I Peter 4:1-2 says, “Therefore since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same purpose or mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…that he NO LONGER should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

In verse 17 Peter puts it in a little different way but so enlightening: “If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:14 says, “…be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”

……….4. We know our calling and election is sure BECAUSE IN THE WAY OF HUMILITY WE’VE BEEN DRAWN NEAR TO GOD AND LONG TO STAY THERE:

I Peter 5:5-7 says, “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for…’God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble…’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

………..5. We know our calling and election is sure BECAUSE WE REST ON THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD’S WORD: [I’m going to close this chapter, this last point on sure election, by asking you to read carefully and over and over for several weeks Psalm 119!! Will you?}

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“IS THERE DANGER IN WILDERNESS WANDERINGS BECOMING PERMANENT?”

The title of this last chapter sounds so foreign to the purpose of God in the leading of His people – and yet ‘so true’ for far too many disciples! The wilderness pilgrimage is ‘legitimate’ and according to the sovereign purposes of God in leading His people from the beginning of the journey to its completion; from the infancy of faith to its full maturity, from “little children” to “young men” and beyond to “fathers of the faith,” according to I John 2:12-13; from a land of spiritual bondage and slavery to the promised land of “the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

In Deuteronomy 6:1 the Word says, “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, THAT YOU MIGHT DO THEM IN THE LAND where you are going over to possess it.” And then in Verse 23, “and HE BROUGHT US OUT…in order TO BRING US IN, to give us the land which He had sworn to give to our fathers.” Our God has sworn to give us the land which has been promised to us, just as with the children of Israel in the wilderness, and that promised land for you and me is that He has predetermined from before the foundation of the world, that we should be conformed to the image of His Son. It’s His desire, His purpose, even His provision of all-sufficient grace that we finish the course. But sadly, not all pilgrims successfully pas through the wilderness; what is intended to be temporary becomes permanent, instead of the door to life and oneness with Christ it becomes their door to death and eternal separation from God.

Why the wilderness? Deuteronomy 8:2 tells us: “…God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, TESTING YOU to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” [If YOU have a problem with this, ask yourself why Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord and do not do what I say?”]. I heard a friend once teach, “whatever God makes, He tests.” Peter said the same thing in I Peter 4:12, “Beloved, DO NOT BE SURPRISED at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you FOR YOUR TESTING, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” Jesus Himself was tested – by the devil, in the wilderness. In Luke 6:40 Jesus tells us, “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been FULLY TRAINED, WILL BE (JUST) LIKE HIS TEACHER.” We are instructed to expect this time of testing in the wilderness to find out what is really in our hearts, “whether (we) would keep His commandments or not.”

In I Corinthians 10:1-12, the apostle Paul warns us to learn from what happened to the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings because it is an example for us in our wilderness walk. In Verse 1 he says, “For I do not want you to be unaware, BRETHREN…” about what happened to our fathers in the wilderness. They had taken into themselves the Passover Lamb (in I Corinthians 5:7 we are told that Christ is our Passover Lamb), they were delivered out of the bondage of Egypt (we are delivered out of the world and the bondage of Satan), they were baptized in the cloud and in the sea (a symbol of the Holy Spirit and the “washing of the water of the Word”), they had experienced the power of God as He delivered them over and over again with mighty signs and wonders, BUT “THEY WERE LAID LOW (DESTROYED) IN THE WILDERNESS!”

Why were they destroyed? Because of their evil desires, idolatry, immorality, they tested God, and they grumbled and complained about the difficulties and hardships they were encountering along the way. Contrary to popular evangelical belief, God did not destroy them because “they were ruining their witness of earth, so He decided to bring them on home early,” God’s destruction is forever, and one lives in a state of death that never dies! And Paul says to you and me in verse 11, “Now these things happened to them as AN EXAMPLE, and they were written FOR OUR INSTRUCTION, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Then follows a staggering warning that most people today simply choose to ignore. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

It is not God’s desire that any disciple perish but that all come to repentance and walk in holiness, finishing the course, obtaining the witness, not aborting the formation of Christ within us, but going on – going over into the land promised – completion in Christ, “the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:13). After the Lord had led Israel into the wilderness He gave them a choice – “See, I have set before you today LIFE and prosperity, and DEATH and adversity…So CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may live…by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life…” His desire for them, as well as for us, was that they follow Him fully; the Word tells us that He does not will for anyone to perish. But He clearly placed the choice of life and death in their hands. “If your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that YOU SHALL SURELY PERISH.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

Many of the children of Israel chose to die in the wilderness, they chose not to go all the way with Christ; for them the wilderness became permanent. Why does the wilderness that God intends to be temporary become permanent in the lives of His people? Psalm 106 gives an account of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and it is a solemn warning for you and me.

THEY FORGOT HIS WORKS

In Psalm 106:13 we are told that “they quickly forgot His works.” This is really an astonishing statement. The mighty works of God were demonstrated before the whole world as a testimony of His power and His choosing of Israel, all of the nations had heard of the works of the God of Israel and it struck fear in their hearts. But Israel forgot! They forgot the power of God that was released in their behalf to deliver them from the captivity of Egypt. They forgot the plagues, they forgot the death angel, they forgot the Blood that spared them, they forgot about the opening of the Red Sea and the destruction of the enemy, they forgot about His provision of manna and the water that came from the rock. The tragedy is that they forgot all of this in just a few short years!

The result of their forgetfulness is found in verse 15, so “He sent a wasting disease among them.” His judgment was released upon them. Now remember that P{aul had told us that “all these things happened as an example, and were written for our instruction…” Is it possible that we could follow in their example of forgetfulness? In Revelation 2 we hear the words of Jesus to the church at Ephesus. “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. REMEMBER from where you and fallen, and REPENT and do the deeds you did first; or else I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand out of its place.” Ephesus forgot. They forgot His mercy and love that He had extended to them. They forgot what they were like before He saved them. They forgot the hell they were living in and the hell they were destined to before He snatched them out of the fires.

Have you forgotten what Christ did for you at Calvary? Have you forgotten the price He paid to redeem you from every lawless deed? Have you forgotten that it was He who sought you out, not you who sought Him out? Paul reminds the Corinthians in I Corinthians 6:9-11, “that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God…neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU, BUT YOU WERE WASHED, BUT YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, BUT YOU WERE JUSTIFIED…”

Have you forgotten that while you were an enemy of God living in the futile way of life handed down to you by your ancestors, “foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another…” Titus 3:3; the kindness of God then appeared to you and saved you? Peter tells us in II Peter 1:9, “For he who lacks these qualities (the character and nature of Jesus Christ) is blind or short-sighted, HAVING FORGOTTEN HIS PURIFICATION FROM HIS FORMER SINS.”

Remember Jesus, remember the price He paid, remember His works! Don’t ever let the enemy cause your mind to become so cluttered with self and the affairs of this life that you forget His works, as Israel did.

THEY DID NOT WAIT FOR HIS COUNSEL

Psalm 106:13 also tells us that “they did not wait for His counsel.” His desire for them was to follow the leading of His Spirit, He would show them the way. In Isaiah 30:21 He tells them, “And your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” Jesus told the disciples in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” There is the reality of following the voice of Jesus, the counsel of God, waiting upon Him. And yet the testimony of so many today is to rush out in the impulsiveness of human will rather than the absoluteness of divine will.

The true disciple of the Lord Jesus who wants to go on will not follow the voice of strangers. Many strangers rose up among the children of Israel with ‘a word from God’ to go back to Egypt, to build a golden calf, not to go in to the promised land, not to drive out the nations, to marry foreign women. But God’s word is forever settled and not one jot or tittle of it has passed away. In Jeremiah God addressed the problem of following the words of men rather than the words of God. In Jeremiah 23:16 He said to them, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; THEY SPEAK A VISION OF THEIR OWN IMAGINATION, NOT FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD.”

How do we know or recognize a stranger? By knowing the voice of the Lord, by knowing His Word and His Spirit. When you acquaint yourself with The Shepherd you’ll have no problem discerning strangers. Paul foresaw this problem when he gathered to himself the elders of the church at Ephesus. In Acts 20:28-30 he said to them, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit haqs made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure SAVAGE WOLVES WILL COME IN AMONG YOU, not sparing the flock; and FROM YOUR OWN SELVES MEN WILL ARISE SPEAKING PERVERSE THINGS, TO DRAW AWAY THE DISCIPLES AFTER THEM. Therefore be on the alert…” His advice to them was to discern the difference: “And now I commend you to God and TO THE WORD…”

THEIR HEARTS CRAVED EVIL THINGS

Another sign that the wilderness is dangerously close to becoming a place of permanent torment is found in Psalm 106:14, “They craved intensely in the wilderness.” Their hearts turned back to Egypt. Suddenly the wilderness struggle that God was using to work His character and His nature into them, to bring them to a place of total dependence upon Him, became too difficult. And although they were free from slavery, slavery began to look good to them once again. In Numbers 11 we find that they had “greedy desires.” And although they had FORGOTTEN the works of God, they REMEMBERED “the fish we used to eat in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.” Their hearts turned back to Egypt and they began to long for having their fleshly desires fulfilled once again. It did not matter that it meant enslavement, they were like Esau, willing to trade their inheritance for a bowl of stew

There is the reality of the inward struggle, the battle to bring our minds and bodies into subjection to the will and the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is just that, A STRUGGLE! Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him DENY HIMSELF, TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME.” Paul knew the reality of this struggle when he wrote in Galatians 5:17, “The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.” But if you desire to enter in to the promised land, “you may not do the things that you please.”

In the same way that we were formerly slaves of sin, we are to now become slaves of righteousness. How? In Romans 6:12,13 Paul said, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness.” We are not to allow our fleshly cravings to control us, but we are to bring our desires into conformity with His Word. Paul spoke of buffeting his body and making it his slave; bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ; and no longer carrying out the desires of the flesh.

In II Timothy 4:10 Paul sadly reports that “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me.” In Philippians 2:20-21, in recommending Timothy to that church he admitted the loneliness of his walk; “For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. FOR THEY ALL SEEK AFTER THEIR OWN INTERESTS, not those of Christ.” In the same way that Israel was warned the people of God are warned today, but just as the nation of Israel, many of the people of God today are “craving intensely in the wilderness.” Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “No one, after putting his hand to he plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” An example of the judgment that comes upon those who look back is found in Lot’s wife, who looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. In Luke 17:32 Jesus simply said, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

THEY TESTED GOD

Psalm 106:14 also tells us that “they tempted God in the desert.” They expected Him to perform for them regardless of the rebellion in their hearts. There came a time in their wilderness walk when there was no water. Instead of crying out to “The Lord Your Provider,” instead of calling upon the name of “Yahweh,” the great “I AM,” they quarreled with Moses. In Exodus 17:3 we read, “The people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses.” Moses cried out to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

In their hearts they were saying, “perhaps God could save us from bondage and slavery, but surely He’s not able to give us water!” “God could provide the blood to save us from sin and death, but surely He’s not able to provide us with our daily bread.” “God could thwart the mighty attack of the enemy, but surely He’s not so personal or thoughtful as to be concerned with our physical sustenance.” “He may be mighty, but He’s not “ALL-MIGHTY!” In Psalm 78:18-19 we read, “And in their heart they put God to the test by asking for food according to THEIR OWN DESIRE. Then they spoke against God; they said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?’”

In Matthew 6 we find the reality of a caring, loving, providing father who so cares for us that the very hairs of our head are numbered. His name reveals His character, “I AM.” “I AM whatever you have need of.” Do you need food? “Look at the birds of the air…Your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?” Do you need clothing? “Observe how the lilies of the field grow…if God so arrays the grass of the field… will He not much more do so for you?” “I AM YOUR PROVIDER.” Do you understand that He is able to meet every need that we have according to His riches in glory? What does He ask of us? “Do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; or for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?…For ALL THESE THINGS THE GENTILES EAGERLY SEEK; for your Heavenly Father KNOWS THAT YOU NEED ALL OF THESE THINGS. BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED TO YOU.”

THEY REBELLED AGAINST GOD’S AUTHORITY

In Psalm 106:16 we read that “they became envious of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.” This tragic event is recorded for us in Numbers 16 and it is called “The Rebellion of Korah.” Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with two hundred and fifty leaders of the people, “men of renown,” rose up against Moses and Aaron. Verse 3 records their charge against Moses, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the people the assembly of the Lord?” This sin is prevalent in the church today as men and women begin to experience the presence of God and then the rebellion that is in their hearts begins to manifest against God’s appointed leadership.

Both the Old and New Testaments have much to say about false prophets who mislead the people by not turning them away from their sins, who for the sake of material gain begin to compromise the Word of God. Nowhere in this Word are we told to submit our li9vesw to the teachings and authority of false prophets. But the history of the church reveals that “The Rebellion of Korah” is a common occurrence among the people of God who become enlightened by His Word and become partakers of His Holy Spirit, and then rebel against godly authority. “We are ALL HOLY.” “We have no need that ANY MAN should teach us.” “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us.”

In the 1740’s during the “Great Awakening,” George Whitfield came to America from England preaching a fiery message of holiness and repentance. Sadly, he encountered great opposition from a very ritualistic religious establishment. He later recorded his observation of the state of the ministry in New England in his journals, saying, “Many, nay most that preach, I fear, do not experimentally [or experientially] know Christ.” What George Whitfield spoke was true! But the result of his authoritative blasting of the ministry among the thousands of new converts in the Great Awakening period produced a rebellion to ALL preachers and a spirit of anarchy that nearly destroyed any lasting fruit of that great revival. When Whitfield realized what was happening, he wrote with humility, “Alas, alas! How can I be too severe against myself, who, like Peter, have cut off so many ears, and my imprudencies mixed with my zeal, have dishonored the cause of Christ.”

There is the scriptural precedent for the role of overseer or elder as well as the reality that all who are born again by His Spirit are a part of the body, and each part is “being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part…” [Ephesians 4:16]. But that is not to the exclusion of God-ordained leadership. In Ephesians 4:11 Paul described the “gifts of men” from God to the church, “And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, FOR the equipping of the saints FOR the work of service, TO the building up of the body of Christ…”

Paul told Titus, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might SET IN ORDER what remains, and APPOINT ELDERS IN EVERY CITY as I directed you…” Paul then gave very specific guidelines that these men were to meet. He told Timothy in I Timothy 3:1, “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man ASPIRES TO THE OFFICE OF OVERSEER, it is a fine work he desires to do.” Notice that Paul commends that desire, he did not condemn it. James warned us in James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.” We serve a holy, sovereign God who is the God of order and not the author of confusion. He has anointed men and placed them in the Body with the responsibility to watch over it, to feed it with the pure word, to protect it from savage wolves and to lead men and women into the measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ.

With the scriptural understanding of the role of overseers, Paul boldly proclaimed in Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” It is amazing how we as Christians like to “pick and choose” through the Word of God. The rebellion of Korah is a solemn warning for you and I today; God judged Korah, Datah, and Abiram as well as all who followed them. In Numbers 16:32, 33, we read, “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah, with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol.”

THEY DESPISED THE PROMISE

Psalm 106:24 says, “they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe in His word.” They left Egypt with their eyes fixed on the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, but when it was time to take possession they refused. The spies who were sent in to the promised land returned with “a bad report,” saying, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us…it is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.” [Numbers 13:31-32].

In the same way, we have been delivered out of the world, ruled by a harsh taskmaster, even Satan himself; a land of sin and guilt, of bondage and slavery, of rebellion and disobedience, and have been given a promise – the promise of being changed, conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Peter tells us that through His precious and magnificent promises we may “become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Imagine that! You and who “were dead in our trespasses and sins…and were by nature children of wrath,” (Ephesians 2:1-3), have the opportunity to be “made alive together with Christ…and seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

We must also encounter the trials of the wilderness so that we learn to trust Him in all things, but as we enter the times of testing we are to “greatly rejoice…that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” But sadly, today there are many voices crying out, “the bad report” that the promise of Jesus Christ is unobtainable, that it is vanity for a man to believe that he can be changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ in this life. Yet for those who have the spirit of Joshua and Caleb, who are willing to be the only ones to go in and possess the promise, Paul said in II Corinthians 4:11, “For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

Will you be like Paul who was able to say at the end of his life, “I have finished the course, I have kept the faith…” and like Joshua and Caleb of whom the Lord spoke in Numbers 14:24, “But My servant Caleb, BECAUSE HE HAD A DIFFERENT SPIRIT AND HAS FOLLOWED ME FULLY, I will bring into the land…”; or will you be like “the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord?” Numbers 14:36. The reason they died? They did not believe His word!

THEY JOINED THEMSELVES TO IDOLS

There is no subject in the entire Word of God that is more directly spoken to by God. In Exodus 20:4,5, He told them, “You shall not make for yourself an idol…you shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” The Lord instructed them to drive out all of the nations in the land they were going in to possess because He knew their hearts would be drawn away from Him. They were forbidden to mingle with the nations for this very reason, yet we read in Psalm 106:35, “They mingled with the nations, and learned their practices, and served their idols, which became a snare to them.”

God called this harlotry, spiritual adultery and prostitution. In Deuteronomy 31 the Lord revealed to Moses what would happen to the people as soon as he was gone, and Moses prophesied to the people in verses 16, 17, “this people will arise and PLAY THE HARLOT WITH STRANGE GODS OF THE LAND…and will forsake Me and BREAK MY COVENANT which I have made with them. Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I WILL FORSAKE THEM and hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed.” And just as the Lord said it would be, it was; in Psalm 106:28 we read, “They joined themselves to Baal-peor.”

The prophet Jeremiah saw what was happening in the land and it absolutely broke his heart. He is called “the weeping prophet” because with brokenness he prophesied to Israel about the impending judgment; he saw how Israel had turned away from the Lord and said in Jeremiah 3:9, “it came about because of the lightness of HER HARLOTRY, that SHE polluted the land and COMMITTED ADULTERY WITH STONES AND TREES.” Paul warned us in I Corinthians 10:7, “And do not be idolaters as some of them were,” and in verse 14 said, “Therefore, my beloved, FLEEE FROM IDOLATRY.” The very last words of John in the book of I John are, “Little children, GUARD YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS.”

“Oh, preacher, pastor, prophet – that would never happen to us!” Really? Listen carefully to Colossians 3:5! “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” And YOU ARE UNSURE AMERICA IS FAST BECOMING AN IDOLATROUS NATION? Oh, and by the way, Colossians 3:6 tells us: “Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.”

We are warned that in the same way the wrath of God came upon the children of Israel and they were destroyed in the wilderness, the same thing could happen to us if we turn away from following the Lord to worship other gods in this world! “Oh, God, HELP US!”

THEY RESISTED THE HOLY SPIRIT

I want you to look carefully at Psalm 106:32-33 because there is no doubt this is a problem in modern church life today! “They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses on account of them; Because they rebelled AGAINST HIS SPIRIT, so that he spoke rashly with his lips.”

It gets clearer when you read Acts 7:51, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You ALWAYS resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” And that is not good! What about you?

In Romans 8:13-14 Paul tells us: “For if you live according to the flesh [your old sin nature] you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

It is the Holy Spirit of God within a true disciple that honors, exalts, and glorifies Christ, not anything that has to do with one’s “old man or fallen flesh.” And when the Holy Spirit is received, acknowledged, and yielded to, a disciple, then, sees the Spirit at work in Him to lift HIGH Jesus Christ and empower one to live victoriously, not as a defeated disciple! Don’t RESIST the Holy Spirit!

What does John 16:14 tell us? “He, the Holy Spirit, shall glorify Me.” I pray that your very body has become a temple of Holy Presence and that you live a life led by the Spirit of God and not your flesh! And, I pray, you clearly understand Holy Spirit Presence and never yield to defile that temple! Amen?

CONCLUSION:

This has been an interesting, inspiring journey for me and I pray for you also. My heart attack on April 27, 2013, was an awareness of life’s uncertainty, but also a deep awareness of God’s holy presence in and through an available vessel – and that He is in charge!

I’m thankful He gave me extended time to write the book entitled “Resignation To Hopelessness” and this book “Questions That Crush Or Convert.”

And I’m thankful you persevered through 29 questions! And I pray your question or questions have been answered. I encourage you that “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Eat heartily!! Amen? Farrell Fisher

BY J.FARRELL FISHER

Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

“Falling short or finishing my course?” It’s really interesting, challenging, convicting, that Paul tells us in Acts 20:22 that he was going “bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there…,” but he clearly understood, by the testimony of the Holy Spirit in him, “that chains and tribulations await me.”

And, notice, in verse 24 Paul said, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the grace of God.”

But is it possible that there are those “followers of Christ” who do not finish the course ordained of God for them? Paul said in Acts 20:29-30, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

In 2 Corinthians 6:12 Paul challenged the ‘church’ at Corinth, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” Did some listen but others didn’t? Did some become blinded to the faith rather than eyes fixed on Jesus? Did some become “unequally yoked together with unbelievers?” Did they willfully try to share the “fellowship of righteousness” with “lawlessness”? Did they choose to try to walk in both ‘light’ and ‘darkness’? Were they ‘OK’ with “idols”?

Of course, you are aware that some “professors of faith” in Christ have done nothing more than attempt to be a ‘Christian’ apart from repentance toward God and faith alone in the finished work of Christ – to them, ‘churchianity’ is highly appealing, and with the best efforts of ‘natural individuality’ they attempt a walk of holiness, yes, apart from the “Healer” and the “Helper” – and ‘flesh’ always tires, falls short, or turns aside from the goal!

“Falling short”? Isaiah 26:3 tells us, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” But rather than “stayed on God” there are those who “stray” from Him, rather than being continuously quickened there are those who consciously quit, rather than ‘remember’ they forget, and rather than ‘zoned in’ there are those who zero out!

In fact, in John 6:66 we read, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Do you remember Luke 9 where three different people ‘talked’ about following Jesus, but all three came up with excuses or explanations and Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” I’d say that’s a serious indictment!!

And what brings on that spiritual rebellion, spiritual indifference, and a spiritual departure? I sense in my spirit that Paul wrote Timothy with tears as he told him, in 2 Timothy 4:10, “..Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

I have no doubt that you know and remember Galatians 5:1 as Paul instructed the church then and now to stand in the “Christ-given liberty.” “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” But “entanglements” can and do become a forfeiture of faith, fellowship, and ‘follow-ship’! ‘Yokes of bondage’ are not figments of one’s imaginations but strong bonds of self-destruction! If a man is “sowing to his flesh,” [that’s his old sin nature], he “will of the flesh reap corruption.” [Galatians 6:8].

But in our Lord and Savior we are no longer “helpless sinners” but truly “hope-filled saints” set apart to honor our Lord and Savior through a life fully yielded to the King of kings and Lord of lords! Our walk of faith is not “performance-oriented” but is eternally based on our “position” of oneness in and through Christ alone! This is why Paul wrote in Romans 5:17, “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

“Abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness”, but you ‘struggle’ to try and live a godly life? It’s not our ‘struggle’ but our surrender to the Indwelling Christ that gives us victory, it’s not our fleshly ambition to be a spiritual man or woman, but the “blood Atonement” of Christ Jesus, it’s not ‘manly effort’ but the Master’s inclusion of us ‘in Him’ ON THE CROSS!! He died on the Cross and we were “crucified” with Him! Oswald Chambers wrote: “Our Lord took on Him our human flesh and transfigured it, and it has become for every saint the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Glory!

Do you realize how many professing Christians are “trudging toward God-likeness” when in Psalm 46:10 He tells us: “Be still, and know that I am God!”?Chambers, in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.37], also wrote: “There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him the abandoned tokens of how genuinely we do love Him. Abandon to God is of more value than personal holiness. Personal holiness focuses the eye on our own whiteness; we are greatly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, fearful lest we offend Him. Perfect love casts out all that when once we are abandoned to God. We have to get rid of this notion – “Am I of any use?” and make up our minds that we are not, and we may be near the truth. It is never a question of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. When we are abandoned to God, He works through us all the time.”

I have no doubt this is why Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 11:2-3! “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” What a powerful revelation! “The simplicity that is in Christ!”

The Apostle Paul also had to confront ‘deception’ in the Galatian letter. In Galatians 3:3 he wrote: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” The simplicity that is in Christ? Do you really know that, received it, and you walk in it? The author of Hebrews tells us about our great High Priest, “who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.” That’s Jesus, but you yield to the “best” of your human flesh that He judged worthy only of the Cross?

I’m sure you remember the story in Mark 10 as Jesus counseled ‘the rich young ruler’ who came to Him with the question, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus confronted him with biblical commandments that are there to expose our own law-breaking, bringing us to, not a place but a Person, who can redeem us from the curse of the Law! The young man declared he’d kept all the law. Jesus told him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” The word says, “But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” [Do you know any who substitute who they are and what they have over oneness with Christ?]

For you, is it “performance” apart from “saving grace and mercy of the Cross”? For you, is it “promotion” of who you are and what you’re capable of doing in the best efforts of fallen flesh or are you fixed on “Jesus Only”?

You do understand that spiritual ‘history’ in all ages and all places, even including the “church” itself, lives with a ‘dark cloud’ of counterfeit allegiance apart from the desire to be one with God, God’s Way, in and through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ alone! It’s in most men’s minds and hearts to decide whether or not they are even interested in the things of God. ‘They’ will leave open or close the door, they think, themselves!

But they better look to the God who is still seated on His Throne because when He arises they may not be interested in what He is up to when His “Judgment Day” comes! ‘Mortal ills’ will prevail for a season, and then the “mighty fortress” arises, and He prevails! C.S. Lewis wrote in “The Great Divorce”: “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Your will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’”

I pray you’re a man who knows about taking off your shoes because you’ve sensed, faithed, recognized, “holy ground” that you’re walking on! In “Aurora Leigh” [Book VII,l.821], Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God. And only he who sees takes off his shoes, The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” As YOU look around at fallen humanity, do you see faces covered with the blackberry-stains?

“Falling short or finishing the course?” I remind you of John 3:19-20! “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

If a man loves darkness rather than light, if he loves ‘practicing evil’, if he refuses to ‘come to the light,’ he does so because he ignores conviction of sin, accepts his self-induced ‘respectable goodness,’ looks only unto himself for his rescue, refuses an arousal of the guilt of sin, and denies God’s grace, mercy, and love. He believes, “I am able to resolve my own ‘heart-problem’,” and have no need of God’s divine intervention!

But one who “comes to the light” because he knows the darkness of his own heart? Galatians 5:24 tells us, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” They, yes, have accepted God’s judgment of their sin – they willingly ‘deny themselves’ and “rest” in the finished work of Christ at the Cross! Denying your self is understanding that God’s presence in you is better than justification of your old sin nature!

“I die daily?” Why? “I take the sentence of death unto myself that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in my mortal flesh.” Oh, really? “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Are you sure that’s YOUR path?

Is it your pastor’s major emphasis, not only by his pulpit preaching, but by his daily example, Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Are you aware of God’s deep and passionate desire that you be brought into “Oneness” with Him with you surrendering all of your rights under His Holy Sovereignty?

What was Jesus’ prayer in John 17? Look at verse 22! “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one…” Does that mean ‘one in nature and character’? Does that mean ‘one in intent and purpose’? Does that mean ‘one in obedience, even the Cross’? Does that mean ‘one in the Spirit’ with death to your flesh, your old man, your old sin nature’?

What did Paul say in Galatians 6:14? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” But not all have severed ties with a fallen world but battle within at times for allegiance only to their Lord and Savior or allegiance to the sinful nature of a world of sin, wrongness, deception, darkness, unbelief, even spiritual madness!

“Falling short or finishing the course”? Romans 1:25-32 says, telling us that there are those “who exchanged the truth of God “FOR THE LIE” [you can sin and not die!!], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen….

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due….

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,…

Backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

“Falling short or finishing the course”? Some are so unwilling to leave a past life of debasing sinfulness and rest in the finished work of Christ, because they understand in Christ the past life of sin IS OVER and resurrection life in Christ begins! Though one sinned and fell short of the glory of God, “In Christ” those who repent, trust in, rely upon Jesus are “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” That’s Romans 3:24!

And now, because of His saving grace, mercy, and love, we become “new creations” with the old life dead through Christ at the Cross and the new life beginning because of His Resurrection! Because of our Savior and Lord, whatever we do, we “do all to the glory of God”!

Have you appropriated His “divine forgiveness”? Have you been told, John 8:36, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”? No more slavery to Satan, no more bondage to an old sin nature He put to death, no more prison shackles to your old life, no more shame of the old things so opposite of the nature and character of God, no more ‘brazenness’ of “look at me, at who I am, of what I’ve done” – NO, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”! “Look at the Christ within!!”

If you don’t know it now, you will soon: I Peter 4:12-14 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you…” Amen?

Oh, I know: There are the “blessed people” (?) – that’s all they know! But the walk of true faith is discipleship, following Christ, even to our crosses, our sufferings, and our ‘faith’ is obedience to the King of kings and the Lord of lords with a willingness to “die” ourselves for the honor of His Name! And we will “FINISH” our course gladly even if pain, tears, and execution for His Name awaits us!!

“Finishing the course”? “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me!” “It pleased God…to reveal His Son in me.” “I am a son of God…through faith in Christ Jesus.” “As a son, I am an heir of God Through Christ.” “I stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made me free.” “I live in the Spirit – I walk by the Spirit.” “In Him I trusted – and was sealed with the Holy Spirit.” “The eyes of my understanding have been enlightened by the knowledge of Christ.” “Though once far off from God, I’ve been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.” “Through Jesus I have access by one Spirit to the Father.” “I’ve been built together through Christ for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” “Christ Himself dwells in my heart through the gift of faith.” “Through Christ I can do exceedingly abundantly above all I ask or think.” “I have put on the new man created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.” “I walk as a child of light.” “I am a bondservant of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.” “Yes, I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” “I am confident that He who began the good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “I have been filled, by the grace of God, with the fruits of righteousness.” “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” “It has been granted to me on behalf of Christ to suffer for His sake.” “My tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” “God works in me both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” “I hold to the word of life because in me and through me it shines as lights in the world.” “I rejoice in the Lord.” “I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” “I desire to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, yes, being conformed to His death.” “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guards my heart and mind through Christ Jesus.” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” “The hope of heaven is laid up for me – my place secured in Jesus’ Name!” “God has delivered me from the power of darkness and conveyed me into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” “I am more than conqueror through Him who loved me and gave Himself for me.” “I am complete in Christ.” “I have been raised with Christ, sitting at the right hand of God, so I set my mind on the things above, not on the things of this earth.” “I daily put on the new man that is renewed in the knowledge of Him according to His very image and likeness.” “Whatever I do in word or deed, it’s my desire to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus and for His honor and His praise.” “I was approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel of God.” “My hope, my joy, my crown of rejoicing? It’s all who’ve come to know Christ through the ministry world-wide God gave to me.” “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord.”

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER,April 24, 2019

Sinners, willing to remain as they are, but pleased to ‘acknowledge’ Jesus Christ, profess ‘faith’, and join a ‘church’ ARE ‘flawed professing disciples’ asserting their ‘completion’ “in Christ”, when HE, the Resurrected, Reigning King of kings and Lord of lords, ‘knocked’, but wasn’t allowed to enter with the gifts of a “new heart” and “new Spirit” with the ‘professors of faith’ continuing on deceiving and being deceived! “Christ (alone) in you IS the hope of glory”, but, IN truly “Repentant minds and hearts”, willing to indeed be dead to themselves daily, IS His Resurrection Life manifested in mortal flesh!!

I’m sure you’ve heard it said: “Oh, I ‘believe’ in Jesus, as long as He allows ME to be myself. I want to be with Jesus, but if I must die to myself, to my old sin nature, and to my devotion to my world philosophies, and even enjoy it at times, and yes, my devotion to Satan’s false assertions, and to the desires of fleshly demons in me to remain themselves, I guess I’ll just have to pay the price for a stubborn heart, mind, will, and life, and say: ‘good-by, Jesus’!”

Sinners, willing to be believers remaining as they are, but pleased to acknowledge Jesus, ‘profess faith’, and join a ‘church’, ARE ‘flawed disciples’ asserting their ‘completion in Christ’ when He is not around to “bless and claim as His own the ‘pretenders’”!

Are you aware that there are ‘pretenders’ who are not “servants in and through and by Christ Jesus”? Are you aware of many who ‘join a church’ yet never died to the old ‘self-nature’ that His Resurrection Life might find a ‘temple’ or ‘tabernacle’, but live ‘professing’ apart from being possessed by Christ Himself through His “blood purchase” at the Cross?

There is such a vast difference between ‘world-followers’, deceived by the powers of darkness and, yet “religious believers”, who’ve declared allegiance to a ‘pretending savior’ but know nothing of the “Prince of Peace who, yes, sacrificed His divine life that fallen men could be reconciled to Holy God through His shed blood, merciless death, then burial, but resurrected on the third day as reigning Lord over sin and death and separation from Holy God, ascending to Heaven’s Throne where He still reigns!” But ‘pretenders’ know nothing about “taking the sentence of death daily to themselves (knowing crucified with Christ)”, that Jesus’ Resurrection Life could, would, was, is, after true repentance and “rest-filled faith”, reconciling them to Him with, in, and through His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power, and His Life then expressed daily in the life now ‘dead to self, dead to their old sin-nature, dead to the unbelieving world around them, and dead to Satan’s impotent armies of fleshly deceit, fleshly expression, and fleshly control, living only to, yes, please the Lord in a daily ‘laid-down-life’ to LET HIM BE JESUS IN THEM AND THROUGH THEM!’

In Matthew 10:1, Verses 7-8, 16-20, 22-26, 28-34, 36-40, we read about “sent ones loyal to the Savior and Lord”! Matthew 10:1 says, “And when He had called unto Himself His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Verses 7-8 says, And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give.

Verses 16-20 follows, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

And you shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them, and the (unbelieving Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak, For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

Verses 22-26, “And you shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake; but he that endures to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into another: for verily I say unto you, You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. (His Resurrection Presence!! Glory!!).

Verses 28-34 then says, “And fear them not them, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without the Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Fear you not therefore; you are of more Value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Verses 36-40 then says, And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that takes not his cross, and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that finds his life shall lose it; and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it. He that receives you receives Me, and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me.”

What an awesome, challenging, enriching ‘Life-changing Word’ for every repentant heart and soul, but, yes, a scary, ‘fear-full Word’ for every unbeliever, every pretender, and, yes, every ‘kingdom’ of man’s building that wants no part of Holy God and His merciful Savior and Lord!!

‘World-followers’, ‘imitating, pretending, church followers’, possessors of ‘fervent lips but divided hearts’, willing to ‘hear the Word of God without obeying’, even making long prayers, but according to 2 Timothy 3:5 have ‘a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; from such turn away’, because You will be in danger of ‘getting scorched’!

“Remaining ‘flawed’ though ‘professing faith”? How ‘strange’ that some disciples are seen as ‘professing faith in Christ’ yet holding on to a past life of the world, the flesh, and Satan himself, sadly, with no desire to be ‘sanctified ‘wholly’ rather than fully freed in Christ’s Indwelling Life’ victorious over the powers of darkness!

I was so impressed recently when reading Oswald Chambers’ book entitled “My Utmost For His Highest”:, (which I read regularly with the Word, yes, over and over again and again – a ‘wise, Spirit-anointed preacher!’ from England a long time ago’!),majoring on a disciple’s ‘fleshly exhaustion’ by quoting Isaiah 40:28, “The everlasting God…faints not, nor ever grows weary,” saying, (p.29), “Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affections. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy OR from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? CONTINUALLY go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say ‘ “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you in order to EXHAUST YOUR JOY IN YOURSELF. Be exhausted ‘for God’, but remember that your supply comes from (and “in Him”!), “All my fresh springs shall be in You.” Amen?

The continuing, disappointing, ‘falling-short’ philosophy, of many ‘trying-disciples’ is, “Do your best”! NO!! Ten thousand times, NO!!” True disciples DAILY “take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in them and through them as they yield to the Holy Spirit to continually guide and express “Jesus Only”” through them!!”

Self-assertiveness in a ‘professing disciple’ is a big nail that gets stronger and stronger in place of their “hope of glory”! One “in Christ” doesn’t need the ‘nails of devotion to his/her old flesh-nature’, but the “new-life” only in and through His Resurrection Presence, being Himself eternally the same, even in opposition to the demons and Satan himself who hang around!

Tell me! “Why do some ‘professing believers’, crucified WITH Christ, still ‘think’ that they are ‘the ones able’ WHEN He nailed their ‘sinfulness and able-ness to His Cross’ thousands of years ago?

‘Self-consciousness’ and ‘self-awareness’, living as ‘professing disciples as servants of Christ but in, of, and for themselves, ignoring His Resurrection Presence if truly ‘born-again’, ‘think’ that their ‘self-obsorbed- life’ that they hold onto can adequately unveiled Christ’s presence, when all it does is ‘shame’ Christ’s completed work through the Cross and His empty tomb!

‘Self-consciousness’ professing Christ is a curse, not a blessing! ‘Self-consciousness’ is a ‘noose around the neck’; not the “new creation reality of His indwelling Presence”! ‘Self-consciousness’ of ‘professing believers’ never gives ‘confidence’ in a compromised believer’s walk, but only a ‘leaking life of limited expression’ of the True Christ! Again, “Christ IN YOU IS the Hope of Glory!”

If Christ Jesus “gives ‘rest’”, why do so many “try-ers” live unfulfilling lives as ‘professing disciples’, yes, unaware ‘possessed disciples’ ARE viewers of God’s amazing grace as Jesus is Himself in them and through them even conscious that it’s Him, not them that honors God the Father?

Again, Isaiah 40:31 says: “But they that wait upon the Lord, (letting Him be Himself in them and through them!), shall renew their strength (which IS their faith in His bodily presence and bodily participation THROUGH THEM, not by them at all!); they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

WHAT AN AMAZING TRANSITION FROM ‘SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS’ INTO “CHRIST-AWARENESS, AVAILABILITY, AND HEAVENLY ACTION” THROUGH “CHRIST-RELEASE OF HIS RESURRECTION –PRESENCE THROUGH YOU”!! Are YOU the “poor in spirit” who know HOW to let, “Jesus, BE Jesus in me, no longer me but Thee, Resurrection Power fill me this hour, Jesus, be Jesus in me”?

The promised ‘life in Christ’ was never intended to be the new believer trying and trying! No! Every day, as your days begin “in Christ”, must be days when the “It is finished” proclamation includes “finished with myself so Christ Jesus can be, is, and forever will be, “my ALL IN ALL”!!

“REMAINING FLAWED” OR, “FAITHING THE FINISHED WORK” BY CHRIST JESUS ALONE! Are YOU “crucified with Christ”, and the life in Him you now live is the daily dedication of ‘death to self’ that His Resurrection Presence might be expressed through you?

It was P.P. Bliss, in the old “Broadman Hymnal”, that wrote the words to the hymn, “That Will Be Glory For Me”. It says:

“I know not the hour when my Lord will come To take me away to His own dear home; But I know that His presence lightens my gloom, And that will be glory for me.

I know not the song that the angels sing, I know not the sound of the harp’s glad ring; But I know there’ll be praises to Jesus our King, And that will be glory for me.

I know not the form of my mansion fair, I know not the name that I then shall bear; But I know that my Savior will welcome me there, And that will be glory for me.

And that will be glory for me, Oh, that will be glory for me; When I stand in His presence, and like Him shall be, Oh, that will be glory for me.” In Luke 24:32, as the true disciples had been with Jesus, and then He was gone, say: “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?”

Question! Do YOU live with a “burning heart” in you because of His Abiding Presence that never leaves you? Are YOU ‘professing Him’ but living without expressing His promise, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you?” “Burning hearts”? Is that the testimony of your earthly existence as a redeemed disciple of King Jesus? Sadly, many live countless lives of unawareness, not “shining lights” rejoicing in His abiding presence! Again, Oswald Chambers, in his book “My Utmost For His Highest” wrote: (pps. 58-59), “Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own (spiritual) nature. For instance, the only test as to whether we allow an emotion to have its way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would condemn, allow it no more way. But if it be an emotion kindled by the Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in your life, it will react on a lower level.

That is the way sentimentalists are made. The higher the emotion, the deeper the degradation will be, if it is not worked out on its proper level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as possible, let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay on the mount of transfiguration, but we must obey the light we received there; we must act it out.”

SO…. When the temptation, the ‘testing’, the ‘trial’, comes by the demons, LET THE KINDLING SPIRIT OF THE HOLY GHOST be loosed in you to ward off any satanic, worldly, OR fleshly desire! CHOOSE DAILY TO HONOR KING JESUS!! AMEN?

“A CHURCH’S, A PASTOR’S, A DISCIPLE’S

MINISTRY TO A LOST, NEEDY, SINFUL WORLD”

VERY ‘WEIGHTY,CONVICTING VERSES’ RESIDES IN JAMES I:26-27 WHERE THE BROTHER OF JESUS, JAMES, WROTE: “IF ANY MAN AMONG YOU,SEEM TO BE RELIGIOUS, AND BRIDLES NOT HIS TONGUE, BUT DECEIVES HIS OWN HEART, THIS MAN’S RELIGION IS VAIN. PURE RELIGION AND UNDEFILED BEFORE GOD AND THE FATHER IS THIS,..

TO VISIT THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION, AND TO KEEP HIMSELF UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD.” THE BROTHER OF JESUS SAW A GREAT NEED, ‘THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION.’ THANK GOD FOR JAMES BECAUSE “HE SAW” A GREAT NEED AND INSTRUCTED DISCIPLES AROUND HIM TO MEET THAT NEED! BUT IS THAT ALL THAT A CHURCH, A PASTOR, OR A DISCIPLE IS CALLED TO DO? “I DON’T THINK SO! I KNOW IT’S NOT ALL! DID JAMES REALLY SAY: “TRUE DISCIPLES ARE TO KEEP THEMSELVES UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD”?

BUT MULTITUDES ACROSS AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD WILL IGNORE “BLOOD ATONEMENT THRU’ CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION, IGNORE HIS RESURRECTION, DENY HIS PROMISE, “OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART AND I WILL COME IN!” BUT RATHER THAN REPENTING, INVITING JESUS IN, LETTING THE “HISTORIC CHRIST” BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU, MOST PROFESSORS OF FAITH IN CHRIST ‘PROFESS’ BUT THEY WANT ‘CHURCH MEMBERSHIP’ APART FROM “NEW BIRTH”!

IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 PAUL WROTE: “ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE MADE PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED IN ALL GOOD WORKS.” WHAT POWERFUL, CONVICTING, INSTRUCTIVE WORDS OF GOD TO EVERY DISCIPLE!

THE CONVERTED, POWERFUL, NATURAL FISHERMAN AND SPIRITUAL FISHERMAN,SIMON PETER, WROTE IN 2 PETER 1,FIRST,VERSES 3-4, “ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS, “THROUGH” THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST WHO HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE: AND, WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES: THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT “BE” PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST”!

READ IN YOUR OWN BIBLE VERSES 5-7 BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING THE FOLLOWING, VERSES 8-11, WHEN PETER,YES, ALSO INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WROTE: “FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, AND ABOUND,THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BUT HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, AND CANNOT SEE AFAR OFF, AND HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS.

WHEREFORE THE RATHER,BRETHREN,GIVE DILIGENCE,TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE; FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.”

I’M SORRY IF IT ‘BOTHERS’ YOU THAT I SHARE SO MUCH SCRIPTURE WITH YOU, BUT I’M FULLY CONVINCED THAT YOU NEED GOD’S TRUTH MORE THAN MY THOUGHTS!

WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO READ IS GOD’S HOLY CALLING TO FAITHFUL DISCIPLES TO, YES, BE MISSION-MINDED MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD LITERALLY AND FAITHFULLY LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE IF NECESSARY TO SHARE THE EVANGELISTIC TRUTH OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE WORLD THROUGH HIS SACRIFICE OF HIS SON! AND YOU?

SO…IN 1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-31 WE READ EVERY TRUE DISCIPLE’S CALLING AND LIFE-IN-CHRIST’S MISSION AND MINISTRY!! IT SAYS: “FOR CHRIST SENT ME NOT TO BAPTIZE, BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL: NOT WITH WISDOM OF WORDS, LEST THE CROSS OF CHRIST SHOULD BE MADE OF NO EFFECT. FOR THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO US WHO ARE ‘BEING’ SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.

FOR IT IS WRITTEN, I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND WILL BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT. WHERE IS THE WISE?WHERE IS THE SCRIBE?WHERE IS THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD?HAS NOT GOD MADE FOOLISH THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD?” (‘THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD’? THAT’S MEN WHO BELIEVE THE WORLD WAS MADE ‘FOR THEM’, NOT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE!).

VERSES 21-31 FOLLOWS: “FOR AFTER THAT IN THE WISDOM OF GOD THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD, IT PLEASED GOD BY THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE. FOR THE JEWS REQUIRE A SIGN, AND THE GREEKS SEEK AFTER WISDOM:(LET ME PAUSE &SAY,“FOOLISH AMERICANS, ASIANS,AFRICANS,EUROPEANS”?),VERSES 23-31!BUT WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, UNTO THE JEWS A STUMBLING BLOCK, AND UNTO THE GREEKS FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO THEM WHICH ‘ARE CALLED’, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS, CHRIST,THE POWER OF GOD,AND THE WISDOM OF GOD.

BECAUSE THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD IS WISER THAN MEN; AND THE WEAKNESS OF GOD IS STRONGER THAN MEN. FOR YOU SEE YOUR CALLING,BRETHREN,HOW THAT NOT MANY WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH, NOT MANY MIGHTY, NOT MANY NOBLE, ARE CALLED;

BUT GOD HAS CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE; AND GOD HAS CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE THINGS WHICH ARE MIGHTY; AND BASE THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THINGS WHICH ARE DESPISED, HAS GOD CHOSEN,YES, AND THINGS WHICH ARE NOT, TO BRING TO NOTHING THINGS THAT ARE:THAT NO FLESH (OR OLD ‘SIN NATURE’) SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE. (YOU’RE AWARE,MAYBE,THAT EVERY BELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN,AND EVERY UNBELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN, WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF HOLY GOD TO EXPLAIN TO HIM ONE’S LACK OF FAITH OR ONE’S FULL TRUST IN THE BLOOD REDEMPTION SACRIFICE OF KING JESUS!!).

VERSES 30-31, “BUT OF HIM ARE “YOU” IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD (GET READY FOR THE FOLLOWING!!), “YOU IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD IS MADE UNTO US (HIS) WISDOM, AND (HIS) RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND (HIS)SANCTIFICATION, AND (HIS) REDEMPTION: THAT, ACCORDING AS IT IS WRITTEN, “HE THAT GLORIES (IN LIFE’S JOURNEY), LET HIM/HER GLORY IN THE LORD”!!!

B.B.MCKINNEY,IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” OF 1940 (COPYRIGHTED BY BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE,TENN.)WROTE THE HYMN “HE LIVES ON HIGH”(P.336) THAT SAYS: “CHRIST THE SAVIOR CAME FROM HEAVEN’S GLORY,TO REDEEM THE LOST FROM SIN AND SHAME; ON HIS BROW HE WORE THE THORN-CROWN GORY, AND UPON CALVARY HE TOOK MY BLAME.

HE AROSE FROM DEATH AND ALL ITS SORROW, TO DWELL IN THAT ‘LAND OF JOY AND LOVE’; HE IS COMING BACK SOME GLAD TOMORROW, AND HE’LL TAKE ALL HIS CHILDREN HOME ABOVE.

WEARY SOUL, TO JESUS COME CONFESSING, REDEMPTION FROM SIN HE OFFERS THEE; LOOK TO JESUS AND (SURRENDER?) AND RECEIVE A BLESSING, THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS JOY AND VICTORY .”

DO “YOU” UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS “VICTORY IN JESUS” OVER THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH, A GOD-ORDAINED LAW? DOESN’T ROMANS 3:23 TELL US:”FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD”? DARE I SAY IT? BELIEVE I WILL! “ARE YOU AWARE THAT SOME ‘PROFESSING BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, CHURCH MEMBERS’, SINCERELY BELIEVE THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL JESUS COMES THE SECOND TIME?” JESUS “CAME” AND HE STAYS IN THE HEARTS OF TRUE BELIEVERS, EXPRESSING HIMSELF,EXTENDING HIS LOVE, & PROVING HIS POWER – AND HE DOES IT, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS, CONVICTING, CONVERTING, TRANSFORMING,ESTABLISHING ANOTHER “TEMPLE” IN WHICH HE RESIDES, REMAINS, AND REACHES OUT THROUGH THEM TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM RULE IN MANY MORE HEARTS AND LIVES!

OH, THEN IN ROMANS 5:5 PAUL WROTE: “HOPE MAKES YOU NOT ASHAMED (ANY LONGER!MY TWO WORDS!); BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS GOD’S GIFT TO ALL TRUE BELIEVERS!!”

BUT YOU ARE AWARE OUR KNOWN WORLD IS ALSO FILLED WITH “RELIGIOUS SUBSTITUTIONS”, ‘THAT’ IN AND THROUGH WHICH RELIGIOUSLY DECEIVED MINDS WILL EXERCISE THEIR ‘REIGIOUS FEELINGS’ APART FROM CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, APART FROM CONVERTED TO “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” AND UPON CONVERSION, IN-FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND COMMISSIONED AS HIS “ROYAL AMBASSADORS”!

SO MANY CHOOSE NOTHING BUT “ME, MY, AND MINE”,OR SOME WILL ‘UNITE’ WITH, ‘LIAR-OLOGY’, ‘MYTH-OLOGY’, ‘FLESH-OLOGY’, ‘WORLD-RELIGIONS’ THEOLOGIES, ‘SELF-ORDAINED THEOLOGY’ – CHOOSING ‘MY CHOICE IS BETTER THAN GOD’S CHOICE, YOUR CHURCH’S CHOICE, OR THE FALSE CHOICES OF OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS’! “AS FOR ME? I’LL TRY TO BE THE BEST RELIGION-PARTICIPANT I CAN BE!” REALLY?

BUT IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-12 PAUL ENLIGHTENS US EVEN MORE AS HE WROTE: “AND LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE, THROUGH THE ABUNDANCE OF “REVELATIONS GIVEN TO ME”, THERE WAS GIVEN TO ME A THORN IN THE FLESH, THE MESSENGER OF SATAN TO BUFFET ME, LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE. FOR THIS THING, I BESOUGHT THE LORD THRICE, THAT IT MIGHT DEPART FROM ME. AND HE SAID UNTO ME, “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU: FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.

MOST GLADLY THEREFORE WILL I RATHER GLORY IN MY INFIRMITIES, THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. THEREFORE I TAKE PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES, IN REPROACHES, IN NECESSITIES, IN PERSECUTIONS, IN DISTRESSES FOR CHRIST’S SAKE: FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN AM I STRONG.” WHY? BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PROFESS THROUGH “BEST EFFORT” BUT “RESTS” IN JESUS’S BEST, & BECAUSE YOU “DIE DAILY THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH.”

IT’S TIME FOR YOU AS A ‘PROFESSING DISCIPLE’ TO ALLOW JESUS TO POSSESS YOUR BODY, HEART, AND MIND THROUGH WHICH HE LIVES OUT HIMSELF THROUGH YOU TO TOUCH THE WORLD AROUND YOU WITH HIS MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE.

I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE FROM ANOTHER HYMN OUT OF THE BROADMAN HYMNAL, THE HYMNAL I QUOTED FROM EARLIER, BUT HERE IT’S A HYMN (P340)BY P.P.BLISS THAT SAYS:

“FREE FROM THE LAW (THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH?),O HAPPY CONDITION, JESUS HAS BLED, AND THERE IS REMISSION; CURSED BY THE LAW AND BRUISED BY THE FLL, GRACE HAS REDEEMED US ONCE FOR ALL.

NOW ARE WE FREE – THERE’S NO CONDEMNATION, JESUS PROVIDES A PERFECT SALVATION; “COME UNTO ME”, O HEAR HIS SWEET CALL, COME, AND HE SAVES US ONCE FOR ALL.

“CHILDREN OF GOD”, O glorious calling, surely his grace will keep us from Falling; passing from death to life at his call, blessed salvation once for all.

Once for all, O sinner, receive it; once for all,O brother, believe it; cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us once for all.”

AT THE ETERNAL THRONE OF JUDGMENT AS GOD EXAMINES “YOU”, WILL IT BE, “I TRIED MY BEST”, OR: “I TRULY, WHOLE-HEARTEDILY, ONCE FOR HIM ONLY DO I “REST” THROUGH CHRIST’S DEATH, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, HIS REIGN IN ME, REJOICING DAILY IN HOPE!

BY:

JAMES FARRELL FISHER

INTRODUCTION

ON JUNE 12,2019, I WILL CELEBRATE MY 83^RD BIRTHDAY! AMAZING TO ME SINCE BOTH MY GRAND-FATHER & MY FATHER DIED AT AGE 78! THE LORD HAS EXTENDED MY LIFE FOR AN ETERNAL PURPOSE.AFTER COLLEGE AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY IN WACO, TEXAS, ENROLLING THERE WITH A FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP AS A ‘RUNNING BACK’ FOR THE “BEARS”, GRADUATING, THEN SEMINARY AT SOUTHWESTERN SEMINARY, THEN PASTORING FOR ABOUT 22 YEARS, THEN THE LORD LED ME INTO MISSION WORK OVERSEAS EVANGELIZING THROUGH LARGE CRUSADES ACROSS INDIA MOSTLY, BUT IN ABOUT FIVE NATIONS IN AFRICA AT TIMES, & BRAZIL, PLUS THE ‘MAJOR RESPONSIBILITY’ OF TEACHING CHURCHES & PASTORS IN “WORD OF GOD MINISTRY” FOR ABOUT THIRTY YEARS, TRIPS ABOUT 5-6 TIMES A YEAR, FOR PERIODS OF 3 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS, BACK & FORTH ON AIRLINES!AFTER THOSE STRENUOUS TRAVELS FOR YEARS & YEARS, WHEN I CAME HOME, ALL I’D DO WAS REST, READ THE BIBLE, & REFRESH MY SOUL & SPIRIT, BUT ALSO OVER THE YEARS WRITING ABOUT 25 BOOKS FOR PUBLICATION AND CIRCULATION. THIS NEW BOOK WILL BE THE FIRST IN A NUMBER OF YEARS! I PRAY THAT IT BLESSES YOU, ENCOURAGES YOU,INSPIRES YOU,CHALLENGES YOU TO GET OUT IN THE “TRENCHES” ON YOUR STREET, CITIES, STATES, YOUR NATION, &,YES, EVEN NATIONS ACROSS THE WORLD THAT NEED YOUR “WITNESS”! AMEN?

COPYRIGHT, 2019

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FOR:JAMES FARRELL FISHER & WIFE, SUSAN M.FISHER!

CONTENTS:

CHAPTER ONE: A SERIOUS INSPECTION OF INSPIRED SCRIPTURE!

CHAPTER TWO: THE DECEPTION OF FALLEN WORLD-CULTURES OR THE TRUTH: “GOD LOVES ME”?

CHAPTER THREE: REMAINING FLAWED OR ‘FAITHING’ THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST?

CHAPTER FOUR: ILLOGICAL DEBATE OR CONVINCED, CONVERTED, CONSECRATED, & CONFIRMED ‘LIFE IN CHRIST’?

CHAPTER FIVE: BRINGING FALSE RELIGIONS TO GOD’S TRUE FAITH!

CHAPTER SIX: STRANGERS IN A ‘GOD-BLESSED LAND’ OR “CITIZENS OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM?”

CHAPTER SEVEN: “PUMPING SELFISH FLESH OR PRAISING THE SUPREME FATHER?”

CHAPTER EIGHT: MENTAL MISTAKES OF MISGUIDED MEN

CHAPTER NINE: VICTIMIZED LIVING OR A VICTORIUS LIFE?

CHAPTER TEN: SPIRITUAL INSANITY OR SPIRITUAL REALITY?

CHAPTER ELEVEN: LESS & LESS OR MORE & MORE?

CHAPTER TWELVE:FALLEN HUMANITY OR THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD’S COMPASSION?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST OR THE DOOR TO GOD’S ETERNAL COMPASSION?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ACTIVE RELIGION – INACTIVE RELATIONSHIP?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: SMALL SEED –GREAT FRUIT!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION LIFE!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: SURE TESTS FOR BLOOD-REDEEMED LIVES “IN Christ”!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: A CHURCH’S,A PASTOR’S,A DISCIPLE’S MINISTRY TO A LOST, NEEDY, SINFUL WORLD!

CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE JOY OF A HOLY HOPE!

CHAPTER TWENTY: CARE OF THE CARNAL MIND OR CARE OF THE SPIRITUAL SOUL?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: A CRAVING,FLESHLY HEART OR A NEW-CREATION MIRACLE?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: RAISING SPIRITUAL SONS

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: ABANDONING HOPE OR ABIDING IN HOPE?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: BLANDSOME, HANDSOME,OR AWESOMELY TRANSFORMED?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: BRINK-LIVING OR BREAK-THROUGH LIBERTY?

TWENTY-SIX: ASININE CHOICES OR FLESHLY DEVOTION TO CHRIST?

TWENTY-SEVEN: BRINGING FALSE RELIGIONS TO GOD’S TRUE FAITH!

TWENTY-EIGHT: CRIMINALIZED FOR STANDING FOR THE TRUTH!

TWENTY-NINE: GOD DWELLS WHERE THE THRONE IS!

THIRTY: ‘AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY!

THIRTY-ONE: ADAPTABLE CHURCHES OR APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES?

THIRTY-TWO:AUTHENTIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

THIRTY-THREE: CAPTURING THE VISION

THIRTY-FOUR: MARVELOUS MERCY & MATCHLESS GRACE!

THIRTY-FIVE: KINGDOM LIVING – KINGDOM BLESSINGS!

THIRTY-SIX: FACING NEW DAYS CONFIDENTLY!

CHAPTER ONE

A SERIOUS INSPECTION OF INSPIRED SCRIPTURE

THE GREAT HISTORICAL FIGURE OF THE PAST, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, ONCE SAID, “SO GREAT IS MY VENERATION FOR THE BIBLE THAT THE EARLIER MY CHILDREN BEGIN TO READ IT, THE MORE CONFIDENT WILL BE MY HOPE THAT THEY WILL PROVE USEFUL CITIZENS TO THEIR COUNTRY, AND RESPECTABLE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY.”

I OFTEN WONDER HOW MUCH OR HOW LITTLE PARENTS MAKE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD THEMSELVES AND FOR “THEIR CHILDREN”! ARE PARENTS SERIOUS ABOUT THE HOLY WORD OF GOD? ARE PARENTS COMMITTED TO INSTILLING WITHIN THE CHILDREN THEY RAISE, YES, A LOVE FOR AND FAITHFULNESS TO DAILY STUDY OF THE WORD OF GOD AS USUALLY AS THEY FAITHFULLY PREPARE THREE PHYSICAL MEALS A DAY FOR THEM?

IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:14-15 PAUL WROTE: “BEHOLD, THE THIRD TIME I AM COME TO YOU; AND I WILL NOT BE BURDENSOME TO YOU: FOR I SEEK NOT YOUR’S, BUT YOU; FOR THE CHILDREN OUGHT NOT TO LAY UP FOR THE PARENTS, BUT THE PARENTS FOR THE CHILDREN. AND I WILL VERY GLADLY SPEND AND BE SPENT FOR YOU; THOUGH THE MORE ABUNDANTLY I LOVE YOU, THE LESS I BE LOVED.” WHAT A STRANGE ‘TWIST’! PAUL WAS SEEING HIS INTERST IN MINISTERING TO THEM WAS NOT TO TAKE WHAT THEY HAD BUT TO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY NEEDED, THE GIFT OF FAITH AND TRUST IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; BUT THEN HE SAW, THAT THOUGH HE GAVE FREELY THE RICHNESS OF GOD’S GRACE & MERCY, FROM THEM HE RECEIVED NO BLESSING, AFFIRMATION, OR ENCOURAGEMENT AT ALL-HE SENSED AND WAS MADE AWARE OF “LESS LOVE” FROM “BLESSED OF GOD SOULS HE BROUGHT TO SAVING FAITH IN CHRIST”! WELL, SINCE REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, BORN AGAIN, BREATHED UPON BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, COMMISSIONED BY CHRIST, COMMITTED TO A LOST, UNBELIEVING WORLD AROUND YOU, BECAUSE OF “YOUR” “SERIOUS INSPECTION OF THE WORD OF GOD”, HOW MOTIVATED ARE YOU IN SHARING YOUR LIFE, YOUR TESTIMONY, YOUR WITNESS TO A SPIRITUALLY NEEDY, HUNGRY, DARKENED LIFE AROUND YOU WHO ALSO NEED TO KNOW “HOW” TO BE BORN AGAIN, RECONCILED TO GOD BY YOUR WITNESS?

IN EZEKIAL 34:18 WE READ, “DOES IT SEEM A SMALL THING UNTO YOU TO HAVE EATEN UP THE GOOD PASTURE, BUT YOU MUST TREAD DOWN WITH YOUR FEET THE RESIDUE OF YOUR PASTURES? AND TO HAVE DRUNK OF THE DEEP WATERS, BUT YOU MUST FOUL THE RESIDUE WITH YOUR FEET?” SPIRITUALIZE THAT FOR ME, PLEASE! AND, I PRAY, FOR A GREAT AWAKENING IN YOU CONCERNING YOUR ‘OMISSION’ OF A DISCIPLE’S MISSION, OR THE COMMISSION OF IT, LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO “INSPIRES US” TO SHARE CHRIST!IS THIS WHY KING JESUS SPOKE THESE WORDS IN MATTHEW 16:25? “FOR WHOSOEVER WILL SAVE HIS LIFE (FOR HIMSELF WITHOUT ANY CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS?) SHALL LOSE IT, AND WHOSOEVER WILL LOSE “HIS” LIFE FOR MY SAKE SHALL FIND IT.” BEFORE HOLY GOD’S THRONE RIGHT NOW: “WILL HOLY GOD SEE YOU AS ‘SAVING YOUR LIFE FOR YOURSELF’ OR, YES, SACRIFING YOUR LIFE, LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE, TESTIFYING TO BIBLICAL TRUTH, EVEN IF IT COSTS YOU YOUR PHYSICAL LIFE, BUT YOUR “SPIRIT-LIFE” THO’ MARTYRED, (MAYBE), IS RAISED UP TO “GLORY-LAND” TO BOW AT THE THRONE OF JESUS AS HIS “FOOT-WASHER”?”

A SERIOUS INSPECTION OF INSPIRED SCRIPTURE? ST.THOMAS AQUINAS, IN HIS WRITING “SUMMA THEOLOGICA 1”, WROTE: “THERE CAN BE NO FALSEHOOD ANYWHERE IN THE LITERAL SENSE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.” THE HOLY WORD OF GOD, IN THE BIBLE YOU OWN OR OUGHT TO OWN, HAS WORDS FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL THAT SAYS IN ROMANS 15:4, “FOR WHATSOEVER THINGS WERE WRITTEN AFORETIME WERE WRITTEN FOR OUR “LEARNING” THAT WE THROUGH PATIENCE,AND COMFORT OF THE SCRIPTURES, MIGHT HAVE HOPE.”

IN 1 JOHN 5:13 THE BELOVED JOHN WROTE: “THESE THINGS I HAVE WRITTEN UNTO YOU THAT BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD; THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, AND THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE (OR “TRUST) ON OR IN THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD.” SERIOUSLY, IS JESUS THE SAVIOR & LORD & MASTER & RECONCILER & REDEEMER, YOUR “BREAD OF LIFE”, “YOUR HEAVENLY MEAT”, “YOUR GRACED ‘HONEY’”, THE “ANOINTED ONE” WHO WILLFULLY SHED HIS OWN BLOOD FOR REGENERATING YOU, ASSIGNING YOU AS HIS MESSENGER? ARE “YOU” AN “AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST” WILLFULLY REPRESENTING HIM, INTRODUCING HIM & HIS DESIRES TO “RECONCILE OTHERS THROUGH YOU TO HIMSELF”?

IN HEBREWS 10:35-36 WE READ, “CAST NOT AWAY THEREFORE YOUR CONFIDENCE, WHICH HAS GREAT RECOMPENCE OF REWARD. FOR YOU HAVE NEED OF STEADFASTNESS,THAT,AFTER YOU HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD, YOU MIGHT RECEIVE HIS PROMISE.” INTERESTING VERSES IN EPHESIANS 3:1-12!! PAUL TELLS US: “FOR THIS CAUSE I PAUL, THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST FOR YOU GENTILES, IF YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME TO YOU-WARD: HOW THAT BY REVELATION (OR UNVEILING) GOD MADE KNOWN UNTO ME THE MYSTERY; (AS I WROTE AFORE IN FEW WORDS,WHEREBY, WHEN YOU READ, YOU MAY UNDERSTAND MY KNOWLEDGE IN THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST), WHICH IN OTHER AGES WAS NOT MADE KNOWN UNTO THE SONS OF MEN, AS IT IS NOW REVEALED UNTO HIS HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS BY THE SPIRIT;

THAT THE GENTILES SHOULD BE FELLOWHEIRS, AND OF THE SAME BODY, AND PARTAKERS OF HIS PROMISE IN CHRIST BY THE GOSPEL:WHEREOF I WAS MADE A MINISTER,ACCORDING TO THE GIFT OF THE GRACE OF GOD GIVEN UNTO ME BY THE EFFECTUAL WORKING OF HIS POWER. UNTO ME, WHO AM LESS THAN THE LEAST OF ALL SAINTS, IS THIS GRACE GIVEN, THAT I SHOULD PREACH AMONG THE GENTILES THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST;

AND TO MAKE ALL MEN SEE WHAT IS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE MYSTERY, WHICH FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD HAS BEEN HID IN GOD, WHO CREATED ALL THINGS BY JESUS CHRIST:

TO THE INTENT THAT NOW UNTO THE PRINCIPALITIES, AND POWERS, IN HEAVENLY PLACES MIGHT BE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD, ACCORDING TO THE ETERNAL GOSPEL WHICH HE PURPOSED IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” AS A RESULT?

HAVING BEEN REDEEMED, WASHED IN CHRIST’S BLOOD, FILLED WITH RESURRECTION LIFE, POWER, AND HOPE, VERSES 16-21 DECLARES:

JESUS “IS” THE “BRANCH” OF GOD’S TREE OF LIFE THAT WAVES HIS “branches” (you&me!)AROUND US! JESUS IS THE “BELOVED SON”, HE’S THE “CORNERSTONE” OF OUR HOUSE OF FAITH, HE’S THE “MASTER” OVER THE WINDS AND THE WAVES OF YOUR LIFE AS YOUR ‘SHIP OF FAITH’ LAUNCHES, & OH, HE’S THE “BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR”, WHILE YOUR WORLD, YOUR SIN-NATURE, AND SATAN TRIES TO ‘DIM’ HIS “ETERNAL LIGHTING”!

CHRIST JESUS IS THE “TRUE VINE”, COMING, CALLING, KNOCKING ON MEN’S HEARTS’ DOORS, ENTERING, ASSUMING HIS MASTERFUL LEADERSHIP ROLE LIKE THE “CAPTAIN” ON A SHIP SAILING A STORMY SEA!

“A SERIOUS INSPECTION OF INSPIRED SCRIPTURE?” WHAT ABOUT EPHESIANS 3:21? “UNTO HIM BE GLORY IN THE CHURCH BY CHRIST JESUS THROUGHOUT ALL AGES WORLD WITHOUT END.AMEN.” “UNTO HIM”? IS THERE IN YOU THE “EXTENSION” OF HIS GLORY TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU THAT CANNOT, WILL NOT BE EXTINGUISHED BECAUSE THE “FIRE” OF THE SPIRIT, THE “FIERY FURNACE OF HIS LIVING WORD & MISSION NEVER DIES”, JESUS SAYING, “WORLD WITHOUT END”?

I MOVE ON WITH SECOND PETER,FOLLOWED BY A CHALLENGING HYMN, 2 PETER 1:19-21, “WE HAVE ALSO A MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY; WHEREUNTO YOU DO WELL THAT YOU TAKE HEED, AS UNTO A LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWN, AND THE DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS:

KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT NO PROPHECY IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION. FOR THE PROPHECY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME BY THE WILL OF MAN; BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

ARE “YOU” BEING MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT? ARE “YOU” CONVICTED & CONVINCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT HE DESIRES TO FRESHLY ANOINT YOU TO WITNESS TO “LOST MEN” AROUND YOU? ARE YOU AWARE, THAT IN, UNDER, AND THROUGH HIS ANOINTING, YOU HAVE NO NEED TO FEAR, BUT BE BOLD TO HONOR CHRIST IN YOUR WITNESS TO THE UNSAVED AROUND YOU?

AS “YOU” OPEN YOUR MIND, YOUR HEART, AND YOUR WILL TO BE A “WITNESSING DISCIPLE”, DIDN’T JESUS SAY, “CALL- AND I WILL COME,PRAY-AND I’LL ANSWER, REST- AND I WILL CONVICT, CONVERT, AND CONSECRATE YOU AS A TEMPLE IN WHICH I DWELL & MINISTER THROUGH YOU”? DO YOU PRAY? IN THE AMERICAN HYMNAL,1933, PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN,P.510, IS A HYMN BY CHARLOTTE G.HOMER & CHARLES H.GABRIEL ENTITLED, “DRAW NIGH, IMMANUEL”: (I CLOSE WITH WORDS FROM THIS HYMN.):

“DRAW NIGH TO US, O GOD OF HOSTS, AND FILL US TO THE UTTERMOST WITH ZEAL TO WORK FOR YOU TODAY, IN YOUR ALL-WISE APPOINTED WAY; REVEAL YOUR WILL IN US, AND SHOW YOUR HAND DIVINE, THAT WE MAY KNOW WE ARE YOUR CHILDREN, & YOU ARE OUR GUIDE AND HIDING PLACE, WHATE’ER BETIDE.

“DRAW NIGH TO US, O MIGHTY ONE! OUR SHELTER BE FROM SUN TO SUN; OUR ALPHA AND OMEGA THOU BEFORE WHOM EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW; DELIVER US FROM EVERY SIN;IN US A MIGHTY WORK BEGIN; INCREASE OUR FAITH, OUR STRENGTH RENEW, FIT US “IN YOU” A MIGHTY WORK TO DO.

“DRAW NIGH TO US,IMMANUEL, MIGHTY GOD OF ISRAEL! ONCE MORE FROM SINAI’S FLAMING HEIGHT SPEAK, THAT WE MAY BE LED ARIGHT; ALMIGHTY, EVERLASTING KING OF KINGS! WITH CONTRITE HEARTS WE SING, THE RIGHTEOUS MAJESTY AND LOVE OF HIM WHO BUILT THE HEAVENS ABOVE.

DRAW NIGH, DRAW NIGH,IMMANUEL, IN GRANDEUR AND MAJESTY REVEAL YOURSELF TODAY; REJOICE, REJOICE, O ISRAEL, YOUR GOD OMNIPOTENT SHALL REIGN WITH UNIVERSAL SWAY; IN GRANDEUR AND IN MAJESTY REVEAL YOURSELF TODAY, YES, GOD OMNIPOTENT SHALL REIGN WITH UNIVERSAL SWAY!” AMEN?

CHAPTER TWO

THE DECEPTION OF FALLEN WORLD-CULTURES OR THE TRUTH: ‘GOD LOVES ME’?

IN THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE FOR AN APPOINTMENT TODAY, AS I WAITED I BEGAN TO READ A CURRENT “SPORTS ILLUSTRATED” MAGAZINE. THERE WAS AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “DONTE’S EPIC” WITH AN EARLY MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT CALLED “WRANGLER” WITH A STATEMENT: “STAY IN YOUR ELEMENT: EVERYDAY VERSATILITY, OUTDOOR CREDIBILITY”.

I WAS STARTLED,DISTURBED,AGITATED, ‘BECAUSE’, I WONDERED,WHAT DOES ‘EVERYDAY VERSATILITY OR OUTDOOR CREDIBILITY’ HAVE TO DO WITH “RECONCILED TO GOD”,BY BIBLICAL REPENTANCE AND TRUE FAITH, WHERE ONE FINDS “RECONCILED” TO GOD BY THE CONVICTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDING US INTO ALL TRUTH, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT SEEING TO IT THAT OUR HEARTS HAVE BECOME FERTILE GROUND OF THE FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE RESURRECTED CHRIST, AND THE THRONE OF GOD ERECTED IN THE TRUE DISCIPLE’S HEART!

HOW EASY, YET STRONGLY POISONOUS IN THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND IT IS TO LIVE WITHOUT GOD’S LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY, OR THE TREE OF DIVINE LIFE SURELY PLANTED, THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT NOT BEING PRODUCED IN THE CONVICTED HEART, PLUS FAILING TO ALLOW THE INDWELLING GUIDANCE OF GOD HIMSELF TEACHING US BECAUSE, THERE IS NO FERTILE SPIRITUAL SOIL FOR THE SCHEDULED ERUPTION OF THE SEED PLANTED!?! “FLESH”, ONE’S OLD SIN NATURE IS UTTERLY UNABLE TO ‘PRODUCE’ THE LIFE OF GOD WITHIN APART FROM BIRTHED,MATURED, &GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

I’M SURE IT’S EASY IN DECEIVED MINDS AND HEARTS TO RELY UPON ONE’S ‘INNER SOCIAL AGENDA’ – TRYING TO BE THE FRIEND OF GOD WITHOUT “TRUSTING”, RELYING UPON A SOCIAL INNER SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE WITHOUT GOD ENLIGHTENING A TRUE REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART! “BEST EFFORT” IS MAN’S ‘SICK THEOLOGY’ WHILE GOD’S DIVINE CONVICTION, GRACIOUS “GIFT”, AND, HAVING TRULY REPENTED, TO THEN KNOW THAT HE,GOD,OPENED THE DOOR OF ONE’S HEART, AND THEN THEY HEAR JESUS SAY: “I’LL COME IN!”

I’M NOT OPPOSED TO ‘OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES’, BUT ‘EPIC’ LIVING APART FROM “RECONCILED TO GOD”? NO DOUBT MILLIONS AND MILLIONS ACROSS THE WORLD, INCLUDING AMERICA,ARE FLOUNDERING, DROWNING, IN SOCIAL,PHYSICAL,& SELFISH SATISFACTION, WITHOUT BEING CONVICTED,CONVERTED,COMPOSED, FULLY AWARE OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE WITHIN THE HEART AS HIS NEW TABERNACLE OF “PRESENCE” AFTER OPENLY REPENTING& TRUSTING IN A HEART, MIND, & SOUL,

WHO WANTS “RECONCILED TO GOD” BY HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION, “RE-BORN” BIRTHED BY THE SPIRIT, NURTURED, MATURED, & REVEALING CHRIST IN THE “NEW-BORN LIFE”, & IN EVERY “NEW-BORN LIFE”,REVEALING WHAT THEIR CALLING, MISSION, & MINISTRY IS IN HONORING THE “RESURRECTED CHRIST” WITHIN THEM!

IN HEBEWS 12:28 WE READ: “WHEREFORE WE RECEIVING A KINGDOM WHICH CANNOT BE MOVED, LET US HAVE GRACE, WHEREBY WE MAY SERVE GOD ACCEPTABLY WITH REVERENCE & GODLY FEAR!” THIS REMINDS ME OF SOLOMON, IN 1 KINGS 3:5-15! IT SAYS: “IN GIBEON THE LORD APPEARED TO SOLOMON IN A DREAM BY NIGHT: & GOD SAID, ‘ASK WHAT I SHALL GIVE YOU.’ AND SOLOMON SAID, “YOU HAVE SHOWN UNTO YOUR SERVANT DAVID,MY FATHER, GREAT MERCY,

ACCORDING AS HE WALKED BEFORE YOU IN TRUTH,&IN RIGHTEOUSNESS,&IN UPRIGHTNESS OF HEART WITH YOU; &YOU HAVE KEPT FOR HIM THIS GREAT KINDNESS,

THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM A SON TO SIT ON HIS THRONE,AS IT IS THIS DAY.AND NOW,O LORD MY GOD,YOU HAVE MADE YOUR SERVANT KING INSTEAD OF DAVID MY FATHER;& I AM BUT A LITTLE CHILD:I KNOW NOT HOW TO GO OUT OR COME IN. AND YOUR SERVANT IS IN THE MIDST OF YOUR PEOPLE WHICH YOU HAVE CHOSEN, A GREAT PEOPLE,THAT CANNOT BE NUMBERED NOR COUNTED FOR MULTITUDE.

GIVE THEREFORE YOUR SERVANT AN UNDERSTANDING HEART TO JUDGE YOUR PEOPLE, THAT I MAY DISCERN BETWEEN GOOD & BAD: FOR WHO IS ABLE TO JUDGE THIS YOUR SO GREAT A PEOPLE? AND THE SPEECH PLEASED THE LORD, THAT SOLOMON HAD ASKED THIS THING. AND GOD SAID UNTO HIM, BECAUSE YOU HAVE ASKED THIS THING, & YOU HAVE NOT ASKED FOR YOURSELF LONG LIFE;NEITHER HAVE ASKED RICHES FOR YOURSELF, NOR HAVE ASKED THE LIFE OF YOUR ENEMIES;BUT HAVE ASKED FOR YOURSELF UNDERSTANDING TO DISCERN JUDGMENT; BEHOLD,I HAVE DONE ACCORDING TO YOUR WORDS; &LO, I HAVE GIVEN YOU A WISE AND AN UNDERSTANDING HEART; SO THAT THERE WAS NONE LIKE YOU BEFORE YOU, NEITHER AFTER YOU SHALL ANY ARISE LIKE UNTO YOU.

AND I HAVE ALSO GIVEN YOU THAT WHICH YOU HAVE NOT ASKED, BOTH RICHES & HONOR:SO THAT THERE SHALL NOT BE ANY AMONG THE KINGS LIKE UNTO YOU ALL YOUR DAYS. AND IF YOU WILL WALK IN MY WAYS, TO KEEP MY STATUTES & MY COMMANDMENTS, AS YOUR FATHER DAVID DID WALK, THEN I WILL LENGTHEN YOUR DAYS!” OH,! WHAT A WORD OF CONVICTION, CONVERSION, CONSECRATION, COMFORT&CHALLENGE! AND “YOU” MUST REMEMBER 2 TIMOTHY 3:15-17 AS PAUL CHALLENGED A YOUNG SPIRITUAL SON & US!! HE SAID: “AND THAT FROM A CHILD YOU HAVE KNOWN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE YOU WISE UNTO SALVATION THROUGH FAITH “WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS”.ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, & IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS.”

ARE “YOU” LIVING IN THE DECEPTION OF A FALLEN WORLD?” OR DO YOU KNOW THAT HOLY GOD “KNOCKS” ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR & MIND &WILL, TO SAY TO YOU, “OPEN THE DOOR & I WILL COME IN & I WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL BIBLICAL TRUTH!”?? I WROTE WORDS OF POETRY RECENTLY THAT SAYS: “STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND,SELFISHLY LIVE AS ‘SLAVES’ TO A WORLD, A DEVIL, & A ‘FLESHLY’ BAND;IGNORING GOD & SINGING THEIR OWN SONG, ‘OFF-KEY’, THEY’RE LOUD & SINFULLY STRONG.

STRANGERS TO “TRUTH” & ALL THINGS “RIGHT”, THEY WANDER ON EARTH IN THEIR ‘SOULISH NIGHT’ IGNORING THE GOD OF LOVE & LIGHT, DANCING &PRANCING & JUMPING IN THEIR SIN, THEY EASILY TURN AWAY FROM “GOD’S MIGHT HAVE BEEN”.

“NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” IS TO THEM A ‘BORE’, BECAUSE LIFE ON THEIR OWN IN SINFUL PLEASURE, VOID OF GOD IS THE SIN-NATURE’S ‘LEISURE’:SO DAY BY DAY IN THEIR SELFISH WAY, THEY WILLFULLY LIVE BLINDED TO GOD’S “BEST DAY”; THE DAY OF REDEMPTION FOR SOULS IN SIN, BUT MANY WILLFULLY CHOOSE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!”

ARE “YOU” LIVING IN “THE DECEPTION OF A FALLEN WORLD-CULTURE OR “LIVING IN” THE TRUTH: “GOD LOVES ME & SO WANTS TO REDEEM ME,RECONCILE ME,& RE-TRAIN ME ABOUT “TRUE DISCIPLESHIP”, SO THAT I,YOU, THE “BODY OF CHRIST” IN EVERY CONTINENT & NATION, STATE & CITY, MAY TRULY BE HIS “ROYAL AMBASSADORS” EXTENDING THE KING’S MINISTRY!!!

“GOD LOVES ME, THIS I KNOW, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO; LITTLE ONES TO HIM BELONG, THEY ARE WEAK, BUT HE IS STRONG! YES, JESUS LOVES ME,YES, JESUS LOVES ME; YES, JESUS LOVES ME – THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO!” IN THE OLD “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL”PUBLISHED IN 1933 BY ‘THE BROADMAN PRESS’, NASHVILLE,TENN.,IS A HYMN ENTITLED, “O COULD I SPEAK”,(P.11), THAT SAYS: “O COULD I SPEAK THE MATCHLESS WORTH, O COULD I SOUND THE GLORIES FORTH WHICH IN MY SAVIOR SHINE, I’D SOAR, &TOUCH THE HEAVENLY STRINGS, AND VIE WITH GABRIEL AS HE SINGS IN NOTES ALMOST DIVINE, IN NOTES ALMOST DIVINE.

I’D SING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD JESUS SPILT, MY RANSOM FROM THE DREADFUL GUILT OF SIN, & WRATH DIVINE: I’D SING HIS GLORIOUS RIGHTEOUSNESS, IN WHICH ALL-PERFECT, HEAVENLY DRESS MY SOUL SHALL EVER SHINE, MY SOUL SHALL EVER SHINE.

I’D SING THE CHARACTERS HE BEARS, & ALL THE FORMS OF LOVE HE WEARS, EXALTED ON HIS THRONE:IN LOFTIEST SONGS OF SWEETEST PRAISE, I WOULD TO EVERLASTING DAYS MAKE ALL HIS GLORIES KNOWN, MAKE ALL HIS GLORIES KNOWN.

WELL,THE DELIGHTFUL DAY WILL COME WHEN MY DEAR LORD WILL BRING ME HOME, AND I SHALL SEE HIS FACE; THEN WITH MY SAVIOR, BROTHER, FRIEND, A BLEST ETERNITY I’LL SPEND, TRIUMPHANT IN HIS GRACE, TRIUMPHANT IN HIS GRACE.”

FOR YOU,YOUR CHOICE! SELF OR THE SAVIOR,LUST OR HIS LOVE, MY WORLD OR HIS KINGDOM, MY FLESHLY PLEASURES OR HIS ETERNAL PEACE, MY DARKNESS OR HIS LIGHT, MY ‘TRYING’ OR HIS WORD OF “TRUST”, MY SELF-EFFORT OR HIS SAVIOR’S LOVE EXCELLING, MY NATURAL BREATH OR HIS BREATH OF THE LOVING SPIRIT, MY ‘SPOTS’ AS SATAN’S MARKING OF SIN-CAPTURED LIVING OR GOD’S “SPECIAL GRACE” OF ‘NEVER-FAILING’ PRESENCE & POWER TO LIVE AS “MORE THAN CONQUERORS, BUT ETERNAL VICTORS” BECAUSE OF HIS BLOOD, HIS DEATH, HIS RESURRECTION, HIS ASCENSION, & HIS ETERNAL EYE ON YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU WALK IN HIS VICTORIOUS CONQUEST OVER SATAN, OVER SIN, & OVER PHYSICAL DEATH! CAN “YOU SAY, ‘HALLELUJAH! GLORY TO THE NAME OF KING JESUS!”

CHAPTER THREE

“REMAINING FLAWED OR “FAITHING”

THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST”

• Sinners, willing to remain as they are, but pleased to ‘acknowledge’ Jesus Christ, profess ‘faith’, and join a ‘church’ ARE ‘flawed professing disciples’ asserting their ‘completion’ "in Christ", when HE, the Resurrected, Reigning King of kings and Lord of lords, ‘knocked’, but wasn’t allowed to enter with the gifts of a "new heart" and "new Spirit" with the ‘professors of faith’ continuing on deceiving and being deceived! "Christ (alone) in you IS the.hope of glory", but, IN truly "Repentant minds and hearts", willing to indeed be dead to themselves daily, IS His Resurrection Life manifested in mortal flesh!!

I’m sure you’ve heard it said: "Oh, I ‘believe’ in Jesus, as long as He allows ME to be myself. I want to be with Jesus, but if I must die to myself, to my old sin nature, and to my devotion to my world philosophies, and even enjoy it at times, and yes, my devotion to Satan’s false assertions, and to the desires of fleshly demons in me to remain themselves, I guess I’ll just have to pay the price for a stubborn heart, mind, will, and life, and say: ‘good-by, Jesus’!"

Sinners, willing to be believers remaining as they are, but pleased to acknowledge Jesus, ‘profess faith’, and join a ‘church’, ARE ‘flawed disciples’ asserting their ‘completion in Christ’ when He is not around to "bless and claim as His own the ‘pretenders111 !

Are you aware that there are ‘pretenders’ who are not "servants in and through and by Christ Jesus"? Are you aware of many who ‘join a church’ yet never died to the old ‘self­ nature’ that His Resurrection Life might find a ‘temple’ or ‘tabernacle’, but live ‘professing’ apart from being possessed by Christ Himself through His "blood purchase" at the Cross?

There is such a vast difference between ‘world-followers’, deceived by the powers of darkness and, yet "religious believers", who’ve declared allegiance to a ‘pretending savior’ but know nothing of the "Prince of Peace who, yes, sacrificed His divine life that fallen men could be reconciled to Holy God through His shed blood, merciless death, then burial, but resurrected on the third day as reigning Lord over sin and death and separation from Holy God, ascending to Heaven’s Throne where He still reigns!" But ‘pretenders’ know nothing about "taking the sentence of death daily to themselves (knowing crucified with Christ)", that Jesus’ Resurrection Life could, would, was, is, after true repentance and "rest-filled faith", reconciling them to Him with, in, and through His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power, and His Life then expressed daily in the life now ‘dead to self, dead to their old sin-nature, dead to the unbelieving world around them, and dead to Satan’s impotent armies of fleshly deceit, fleshly expression, and fleshly control, living only to, yes, please the Lord in a daily ‘laid-down-life’ to LET HIM BE JESUS IN THEM AND THROUGH THEM!’

In Matthew 10:1, Verses 7-8, 16-20, 22-26, 28-34, 36-40, we read about "sent ones loyal to the Savior and Lord"! Matthew 10:1 says, "And when He had called unto Himself His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Verses 7-8 says, And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give.

Verses 16-20 follows, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

And you shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them, and the (unbelieving Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak, For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

Verses 22-26, "And you shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake; but he that endures to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into another: for verily I say unto you, You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. (His Resurrection Presence!!

Glory!!).

Verses 28-34 then says, "And fear them not them, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without the Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Fear you not therefore; you are of more Value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Verses 36-40 then says, And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that takes not his cross, and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that finds his life shall lose it; and he that loses his life for My sake shall find it.

He that receives you receives Me, and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me."

What an awesome, challenging, enriching ‘Life-changing Word’ for every repentant heart and soul, but, yes, a scary, ‘fear-full Word’ for every unbeliever, every pretender, and, yes, every ‘kingdom’ of man’s building that wants no part of Holy God and His merciful Savior and Lord!!

‘World-followers’, ‘imitating, pretending, church followers’, possessors of ‘fervent lips but divided hearts’, willing to ‘hear the Word of God without obeying’, even making long prayers, but according to 2 Timothy 3:5 have ‘a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; from such turn away’, because You will be in danger of ‘getting scorched’!

"Remaining ‘flawed’ though ‘professing faith"? How ‘strange’ that some disciples are seen as ‘professing faith in Christ’ yet holding on to a past life of the world, the flesh, and Satan himself, sadly, with no desire to be ‘sanctified ‘wholly’ rather than fully freed in Christ’s Indwelling Life’ victorious over the powers of darkness!

I was so impressed recently when reading Oswald Chambers’ book entitled "My Utmost For His Highest " :, (which I read regularly with the Word, yes, over and over again and again – a ‘wise, Spirit-anointed preacher!’ from England a long time ago’!),majoring on a disciple’s ‘fleshly exhaustion’ by quoting Isaiah 40:28, "The everlasting God…faints not, nor ever grows weary," saying, (p.29), "Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affections. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy OR from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? CONTINUALLY go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say’ "O Lord, I am so exhausted." He saved and sanctified you in order to EXHAUST YOUR JOY IN YOURSELF. Be exhausted ‘for God’, but remember that your supply comes from (and "in Him"!), "All my fresh springs shall be in You." Amen?

The continuing, disappointing, ‘falling-short’ philosophy, of many ‘trying-disciples’ is, "Do your best"! NO!! Ten thousand times, NO!!" True disciples DAILY "take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in them and through them as they yield to the Holy Spirit to continually guide and express "Jesus Only"" through them!!"

Self-assertiveness in a ‘professing disciple’ is a big nail that gets stronger and stronger in place of their "hope of glory"! One "in Christ" doesn’t need the ‘nails of devotion to his/her old flesh-

nature’, but the "new-life" only in and through His Resurrection Presence, being Himself eternally the same, even in opposition to the demons and Satan himself who hang around!

Tell me! "Why do some ‘professing believers’, crucified WITH Christ, still ‘think’ that they are ‘the ones able’ WHEN He nailed their ‘sinfulness and able-ness to His Cross’ thousands of years ago?

‘Self-consciousness’ and ‘self-awareness’, living as ‘professing disciples as servants of Christ but in, of, and for themselves, ignoring His Resurrection Presence if truly ‘born-again’, ‘think’ that their ‘self-absorbed- life’ that they hold onto can adequately unveiled Christ’s presence, when all it does is ‘shame’ Christ’s completed work through the Cross and His empty tomb!

‘Self-consciousness’ professing Christ is a curse, not a blessing! ‘Self-consciousness’ is a ‘noose around the neck’; not the "new creation reality of His indwelling Presence"! ‘Self­ consciousness’ of ‘professing believers’ never gives ‘confidence’ in a compromised believer’s walk, but only a ‘leaking life of limited expression’ of the True Christ! Again, "Christ IN YOU IS the Hope of Glory!"

If Christ Jesus "gives ‘rest’", why do so many "try-ers" live unfulfilling lives as ‘professing disciples’, yes, unaware ‘possessed disciples’ ARE viewers of God’s amazing grace as Jesus is Himself in them and through them even conscious that it’s Him, not them that honors God the Father?

Again, Isaiah 40:31 says: "But they that wait upon the Lord, (letting Him be Himself in them and through them!), shall renew their strength (which IS their faith in His bodily presence and bodily participation THROUGH THEM, not by them at all!); they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

WHAT AN AMAZING TRANSITION FROM ‘SELF­ CONSCIOUSNESS’ INTO "CHRIST-AWARENESS, AVAILABILITY, AND HEAVENLY ACTION" THROUGH "CHRIST-RELEASE OF HIS RESURRECTION -PRESENCE THROUGH YOU"! I Are YOU the

"poor in spirit" who know HOW to let, "Jesus, BE Jesus in me, no longer me but Thee, Resurrection Power fill me this hour, Jesus, be Jesus in me"?

The promised ‘life in Christ’ was never intended to be the new believer trying and trying! No! Every day, as your days begin "in Christ", must be days when the "It is finished" proclamation includes "finished with myself so Christ Jesus can be, is, and forever will be, "my ALL IN ALL"!!

"REMAINING FLAWED" OR, "FAITHING THE FINISHED WORK"

BY CHRIST JESUS ALONE! Are YOU "crucified with Christ", and the life in Him you now live is the daily dedication of ‘death to self’ that His Resurrection Presence might be expressed through you?

It was P.P. Bliss, in the old "Broadman Hymnal", that wrote the words to the hymn, "That Will Be Glory For Me". It says:

"I know not the hour when my Lord will come To take me away to His own dear home; But I know that His presence lightens my gloom, And that will be glory for me.

I know not the song that the angels sing, I know not the sound of the harp’s glad ring; But I know there’ll be praises to Jesus our King, And that will be glory for me.

I know not the form of my mansion fair, I know not the name that I then shall bear; But I know that my Savior will welcome me there, And that will be glory for me.

And that will be glory for me, Oh, that will be glory for me; When I stand in His presence, and like Him shall be, Oh, that will be glory for me." In Luke 24:32, as the true disciples had been with Jesus, and then He was gone, say: "Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?"

Question! Do YOU live with a "burning heart" in you because of His Abiding Presence that never leaves you? Are YOU ‘professing Him’ but living without expressing His promise, "I’ll never leave you nor forsake you?" "Burning hearts"? Is that the testimony of your earthly existence as a redeemed disciple of King Jesus? Sadly, many live countless lives of unawareness, not "shining lights" rejoicing in His abiding presence! Again, Oswald Chambers, in his book "My Utmost For His Highest" wrote: (pps. 58-59), "Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own (spiritual) nature. For instance, the only test as to whether we allow an emotion to have its way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would condemn, allow it no more way. But if it be an emotion kindled by the Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in your life, it will react on a lower level.

That is the way sentimentalists are made. The higher the emotion, the deeper the degradation will be, if it is not worked out on its proper level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as possible, let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay on the mount of transfiguration, but we must obey the light we received there; we must act it out."

SO…. When the temptation, the ‘testing’, the ‘trial’, comes by the demons, LET THE KINDLING SPIRIT OF THE HOLY GHOST be

loosed in you to ward off any satanic, worldly, OR fleshly desire! CHOOSE DAILY TO HONOR KING JESUS!! AMEN?

CHAPTER FOUR

“ILLOGICAL DEBATE OR CONVINCED, CONVERTED, CONSECRATED, AND CONFIRMED LIFE IN CHRIST”

THE PSALMIST, IN PSALM 111, WAS,(YES), INSPIRED TO WRITE, VERSE 5, "GOD HAS GIVEN MEAT UNTO THEM THAT FEAR HIM: HE WILL EVER BE MINDFUL OF HIS COVENANT." BUT ‘ILLOGICAL DEBATERS’, STRONGLY ‘POISONED’ BY ‘GOD-RESENTERS’ ACCEPT ‘LESSONS’ (?) FROM THE ‘FLESH OR SIN-NATURED’ MEN OR WOMEN, WHO RATHER THAN "TRUST GOD" WHO BIRTHED MANKIND WITH THE CHOICE FOR THEIR LIFE’S JOURNEY TURN INWARD & AROUND BUT NOT TO GOD, WHO,YES,EVEN THOUGH HE "KNOCKS", AND THEY REFUSE TO OPEN THE HEART’S DOOR BECAUSE THEY

‘LOVE’ "FLESH" NOT SPIRIT I LOVING A "LOST

WORLD’S RESENTMENT OF DEVOTION TO GOD",SO, "GUIDED BY ‘HEART-DEAD, MIND BLINDED’, AND WARPED WILLS DECEIVED BY SATAN HIMSELF", THERE WILL BE THOSE WHO FOOLISHLY CHOOSE TO REMAIN SEPARATED FROM GOD, UNDER SATAN’S DOMINATION, BLINDED BY·’ A FOOLISH LOST-WORLD MENTALITY’, UNAWARE THEY’VE CHOSEN ‘ILLOGICAL, NATURAL,DEMONIC,AND ‘HELLISH’ INSIGHT THAT LEAVES MERCIFUL, LOVING, GRACIOUS, CARING GOD & HIS WILL, WORD, & WAYS OUT OF THEIR LIVES, SO THEY "CHOOSE" THE WORLD’S GODLESS SPIRIT, THE SIN NATURE’S DEPRAVITY, AND SATAN’S BLINDNESS II

"ILLOGICAL DEBATERS" ARE OFTEN BLINDED BY AN INNER ‘ATTITUDE’, STRONG BUT WEAK AND DEFENSELESS, THAT, "UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING BUT SIN", THEY LIVE HOLDING ONTO, ‘IN SOME’, A "WILDER-LESS", "WONDER-LESS", "WISDOM-LESS", "WITNESS LESS" ATTITUDE THAT EVEN ‘BELIEVERS’ (?)

WHO CALL THEMSELVES ‘DISCIPLES OF CHRIST’, CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN SINCE ‘BEING SAVED'(?), THOUGH JESUS TOLD HIS THE MAN IN THE TEMPLE THAT HE HEALED, JOHN 5:14, "BEHOLD, YOU ARE MADE WHOLE:SIN NO MORE, LEST A WORSE THING COME UPON YOU."

"ILLOGICAL DEBATERS"? IN TITUS 3:2-11 PAUL STOUTLY AND WISELY WROTE: "TO SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN, TO BE NO BRAWLERS, BUT GENT.LE, SHOWING ALL MEEKNESS UNTO ALL MEN.

FOR WE OURSELVES ALSO WERE SOMETIMES FOOLISH, DISOBEDIENT,DECEIVED,SERVING DIVERS LUSTS AND PLEASURES, LIVING IN MALICE AND ENW, HATEFUL, AND HATING ONE ANOTHER. BUT AFTER THAT THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR TOWARD MAN APPEARED, NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION, AND RENEWING OF THE HOLY GHOST;

WHICH HE SHED ON US ABUNDANTLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR; THAT BEING JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE (JUSTIFIED? "JUST-AS-IF-WE’D-NEVER-SINNED!"), WE SHOULD BE MADE HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.

THICH IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND THESE THINGS I WILL THAT YOU AFFIRM CONSTANTLY, THAT THEY WHICH HAVE BELIEVED IN GOD MIGHT BE CAREFUL TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS, THESE THINGS ARE GOOD AND PROFITABLEUNTO MEN. BUT AVOID FOOLISH QUESTIONS, AND GENEALOGIES, AND CONTENTIONS, AND STRIVINGS ABOUT THE LAW; FOR THEY ARE UNPROFITABLE AND VAIN.

A MAN THAT IS A HERETIC AFTER THE FIRST AND SECOND ADMONITION REJECT; KNOWING THAT HE THAT IS SUCH SUBVERTED, AND SINS, BEING CONDEMNED OF HIMSELF." WHAT A POWERFUL, ENLIGHTENING, CONVICTING REVELATION OF THE HOLY WORDI!

"ILLOGICAL DEBATERS" ARE DESCRIBED IN PSALM 2:1-41 THE PSALMIST ASKS, "WHY DO THE HEATHEN RAGE, AND THE PEOPLE IMAGINE A VAIN THING? THE KINGS OF THE EARTH SET THEMSELVES, AND THE RULERS TAKE COUNSEL TOGETHER, AGAINST THE LORD, AND AGAINST HIS ANOINTED, SAYING ‘LET US BREAK THEIR BANDS ASUNDER, AND CAST AWAY THEIR CORDS FROM US. HE THAT SITS IN THE HEAVENS SHALL LAUGH; THE LORD SHALL HAVE THEM IN DERISION. ( THAT WORD ‘DERISION’ MEANS, ‘RIDICULE’ OR ‘MOCKERY’!)

PLUS, IT’S SATAN HIMSELF & HIS DEMONIC WARRIORS THAT "PUT CORDS & BANDS" ON THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF ALL BIRTHED MANKIND WHO MUST RECEIVE CHRIST’S BLOOD REDEMPTION FOR THEM TO BE FREE FROM SATANIC BONDAGE!

BUT, IN THIS MOMENT, THIS TIME PERIOD OF YOUR LIFE, ARE YOU AN "ILLOGICAL DEBATER" OR ARE "YOU" A "CONVINCED,CONVERTED, CONSECRATED, CONFIRMED TRUE DISCIPLE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST"? A VERY ENLIGHTENING VERSE IS FOUND IN HEBREWS 11:4! "BY FAITH ABEL OFFERED UNTO GOD A

EXCELLENT SACRIFICE THAN CAIN, BY WHICH HE OBTAINED WITNESS THAT HE WAS RIGHTEOUS, GOD TESTIFYING OF HIS GIFTS; AND BY IT BEING DEAD YET SPEAKS." (A WITNESS THAT ‘CONTINUES’, EVEN AFTER ‘YOU’ DIED? "AMAZING GRACE"!I).

ARE "YOU" CONVINCED? AND "CONVINCED", DO "YOU" ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO "CONVINCE" OTHERS THROUGH YOU? IN MATTHEW 10:19-20, JESUS TELLS US: "BUT WHEN THEY DELIVER YOU UP, TAKE NO THOUGHT HOW OR WHAT YOU SHALL SPEAK: FOR IT SHALL BE GIVING YOU IN THAT SAME HOUR WHAT YOU SHALL SPEAK. FOR IT IS NOT YOU THAT SPEAKS, BUT THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER WHICH SPEAKS IN YOU (AND "THROUGH YOU"I)."

"CONVINCED" BECAUSE YOU "WERE CONVERTED"? IS THAT "BORN AGAIN", GRACE FILLED, SPIRIT-BIRTHED, SPIRIT-ENLIGHTENED, SPIRIT-CONFIRMED,SPIRIT-ANOINTED, SPIRIT GUIDED, TO TOUCH YOUR WORLD WITH THE ETERNAL GOSPEL STORY OF GOD’S POWER TO SAVE OTHERS THROUGH YOU AS YOU LIFT UP THE MESSAGE OF "BLOOD REDEMPTION, RECONCILIATION, AND REACHING OUT THROUGH YOU WITH HIS AMAZING GRACE TO OTHERS?"

"CONVINCED", "CONVERTED", BUT ARE YOU "CONSECRATED"? IS THAT "SET APART", AS ONE DISTINCTIVELY DIFFERENT BY THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD, "BORN AGAIN", A "NEW CREATION" NO LONGER ONLY UNTO ONE’S SELF, BUT "CAPTURED, CONVERTED, CONSECRATED, ONE BECOMES CHRIST’S "ROYAL AMBASSADOR", COMMISSIONED BY CHRIST TO BE HIS WITNESS TO A WORLD THAT NEEDS TO BE RECONCILED TO GOD, REPENTING OF SIN AND SEPARATION FROM HIM, BUT THEN "SET APART" FOR THE UNVEILING OF THE GLORY, GRACE, AND MERCY OF GOD THROUGH YOU BECAUE OF THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING CHRIST WITHIN YOU!!

"CONVINCED,CONVERTED, CONSECRATED" – GOOD, EXCELLENT, GRACE-GIVEN -AND – "CONFIRMED" BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, EVIDENCED BY THE "FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT" MULTIPLYING IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU!

MARCUS M.WELLS, IN "THE AMERICAN HYMNAL", PUBLISHED IN 1933, BY THE BROADMAN PRESS OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, (P.188),WROTE THE HYMN, "HOLY SPIRIT, FAITHFUL GUIDE". IT SAYS: "HOLY SPIRIT, FAITHFUL GUIDE, EVER NEAR THE CHRISTIAN’S

SIDE; GENTLY LEAD US BY THE HAND, PILGRIMS IN A DESERT LAND;

EVER PRESENT, TRUEST FRIEND, EVER NEAR YOUR AID TO LEND, LEAVE US NOT TO DOUBT AND FEAR, GROPING ON IN DARKNESS DREAR.

WHEN OUR DAYS OF TOILSHALL CEASE, WAITING STILL FOR SWEET RELEASE, NOTHING LEFT BUT HEAVEN AND PRAYER, WONDERING IF OUR NAMES WERE THERE.

THEN JESUS SPEAKS! WHISPERING SOFTLY, ‘WANDERER, COMEI FOLLOW ME, I’ll GUIDE YOU HOME!

WEARY SOULS FOREVER REJOICE, WHILE THEY HEAR THAT SWEETEST VOICE, WHEN THE STORMS ARE RAGING SORE, HEARTS GROW FAINT, AND HOPES GIVE O’ER,WADING DEEP THE DISMAL FLOOD, PLEADING NAUGHT BUT JESUS’ BLOOD, THE SPIRIT SPEAKS, WHISPERING SOFTLY, "WAN DERER, COME! FOLLOW ME, I’llGUIDE YOU HOME!"IS THE WORD, THE "TRUTH", THE HOLY SPIRIT, YOUR GUIDE TO VICTORY OR IN "BEST EFFORT",

"FLESH-SPIRIT"I "SATAN-DECEIVED" ATTEMPTS

TO BE ‘CHRIST-LIKE’, HAVE YOU "FALLEN AWAY" FROM THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST?

HE IS THE "FULLNESS", BUT YOU "TRIED" RATHER THAN "TRUSTED"? "ATTEMPTED" RATHER THAN "ATONED"? "SELF-EFFORT" RATHER THAN "BOUGHT WITH A PRICE", ‘PAID FOR’ REDEMPTION BY THE SHED BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD BECAUSE "GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD"? IN WHOM WILL "YOU" STAND WITH BEFORE HOLY GOD AT HIS ETERNAL JUDGMENT SEAT WHEN YOUR DAY OF DEATH COMES?!?

CHAPTER FIVE

“FEAR-FILLED OR FEARLESS IN THE FAITH OF CHRIST JESUS?”

Highly, highly interesting Scriptures in Philippians 2:12-13 where Paul the Apostle said: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION IN FEAR AND TREMBLING; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

“His good pleasure”, to “work in you”, “BOTH to will AND to do for His good pleasure”? And as He “works in you” according to His good pleasure”, you think any ‘believer’ professing Christ has the ‘right’ and the ‘privilege’ to ‘work out his/her salvation on his/her terms without any consideration to what pleases God Himself who, yes, laid down the life of His Son in your place’?

BUT!!!… If we understand God “worked out” His terms of our salvation, “both to will and to do (in us!) what IS His good pleasure”, being “set free from the law of sin and death, thus, that gives us the right to live our lives, then, on our terms”? Give me a break! From ‘fleshly’ but ‘still retaining a ‘right’ to do as one pleases’? How easily is it to be warped concerning “revelation-Truth”!! Jesus Himself clearly said in Luke 6:46 that one doesn’t obey in order to be saved, but because he/she has been saved, therefore, they thus, yield to Christ’s Lordship in their “walk of faith”, which IS obedience TO the Master! “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?”

Jesus had just spoken on good men AND evil men when in Luke 6:44-45, He said: “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For EVERY tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.”

Is it possible that ‘pretenders to obedience’, professing Christ, ARE, as Jesus described them in Luke 6:41-42?, “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! (“Play-actor!”). First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your own eye.” Is that clear to you? Or are YOU determined to ‘gather grapes from the bramble bush of a sin-infested, worldly programmed, devilish influence’?

Many religious pretenders are BOUND in the strong bonds of spiritual pretense without even one fruit of God’s Spirit produced only by His Presence within them, yet still seek to see themselves as ‘Jesus-disciples’, though void of true repentance and, yes, Biblical Faith, that IS “trust and obedience”! Faith or obedience in the one that at least ‘professes it’ but doesn’t ‘stand on the sure foundation’ is certain to falter into more spiritual frailty, more spiritual feebleness, and losing any crippled confidence he or she had been able to muster in, yes, their ‘counterfeit state of allegiance’ rather than having been “second-born by the Holy Spirit”!

When the Lord Jesus said, “Come unto Me”, it was not for a spiritual badge to wear on one’s everyday outer clothing, but coming to Him, willfully dying daily to one’s old sin-nature-identity, and “resting” in His abiding, Resurrection Presence in the true heart of the now “born-again believer”!

In Luke 18:1-30 we read a solemn, serious, saving Word from King Jesus! He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint: Saying (That’s Jesus speaking!), There was in a city a judge, who had no fear of God, neither regarded any man; And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary.

And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she wearies me. And the Lord said,

Hear what the unjust judge said. ‘And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bears long with them’? And He spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, yet despised others: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

The Pharisee stood up and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess’. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me the sinner’. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; he that humbles himself (before God) shall be exalted”..

And they brought unto Him also infants, that He would touch them: but when His disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto Himself, and said, “Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein to God’s Kingdom!”

And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? None is good, save one, that is, God. You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not Kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother." And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. When Jesus heard these things, He said unto him,

“Yet you lack one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute unto the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.” When the ruler heard this, he was very sorrowful; for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, He said: “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God? For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

And they that heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” And Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Then Peter said, “Lo, we have left all, and followed You.” And Jesus said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not but receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

What an awesome chapter in the Word of God! And yet many are not even moved one inch toward Holy God in their ‘self-determined’, mind-analyzed, ‘world-system’ allegiance, or the ‘deceived-by-Satan-mentality’, doing ‘religious allegiance’ “My way”!! All around you are individuals who are personally, morally, spiritually,‘bankrupt-souls’, blinded to the love, mercy, and grace of God, fully content to live a ‘religious’ but godless life, indulging their ‘flesh-nature’, corrupted by an army of deceitful devils, and a ‘Satan-inspired lifestyle of even ‘religious indifference’ to the good, acceptable, and perfect Will of Holy God’!

I’m thoroughly convinced that, beside the inspired Word of Holy God, IS the “faith-walk of a regenerated, re-born, Spirit-led Life, obedient to every Word of God, and IS the still-revealed- Resurrection-Presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords”! In Oswald Chambers’ book, “My Utmost For His Highest”, Chambers wrote a convicting, powerful, Truth-filled word! He said: (p.242), building on John 17:4, Jesus saying, “I have finished the work which You, Father-God, gave Me to do.” He wrote:

“The Death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very Mind of God. There IS NO ROOM FOR LOOKING ON JESUS CHRIST AS A MARTYR; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented: His death was the very reason why He came…

Never build your preaching on forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ’s revelation (or unveiling) of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption “much ado about nothing.” If God does forgive sin, it is because of the Death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Savior because of His death. “We see Jesus…because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ – “IT IS FINISHED.” That is the last word in the redemption of man…

Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation given by Jesus Christ. Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity and compassion; that He became a curse for us out of sympathy with us. Jesus Christ BECAME A CURSE FOR US BY DIVINE DECREE. Our portion of realizing the terrific meaning of the curse is conviction of sin, the gift of shame and penitence is given us – this is the mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man, and Calvary is the estimate (or unveiling) of His hatred.” So powerfully convicting, liberating, and life-changing eternally by, yes, the grace, the love, and the mercy for us in “the crucified, dead, buried, but resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords”!!

And, when that sinks in to your mind, heart, and will, with Paul, (1 Corinthians 10:31), “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do ALL to the glory of God.” Is THAT Scriptural awe and shock, or not?

In Malachi 3:10b the prophet heard Holy, merciful, loving God, saying: “…prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour YOU out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Do YOU “live” IN “the open windows of heaven” with the overflow from you being, yes, the extension of Christ’s Life through you, the expression of His faithful, loving nature through you, and the living proof of His still awesome power to resurrect the dead, yes, Him through YOU?).

“Fear-filled OR Fearless in the Faith of Christ Jesus”? In Matthew 5:1-16 we read: And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain; and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him. AND He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor (the poverty-stricken in themselves!) in spirit, for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek (the teachable!), for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they WHICH DO HUNGER AND THIRST after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s IS the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” HEAR ME!

You (”In Christ”) are the salt of the earth; but, if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.(Are you SET on Calvary’s hill and Christ’s empty tomb?) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a basket (a church building?), but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house (of human civilization?). Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Dare I tell you? Believe I will!! “The ‘Eternal Morning Light” never has a day it doesn’t dawn – bright or cloudy or stormy or rainy – Jesus, the Eternal Morning Light still shines – Are YOU in the ‘darkness’ or do you and yours ‘Radiate’ the Eternal Light WHO IS CHRIST JESUS?

Are YOU “Fear-filled OR Fearless in the Faith?”

CHAPTER SIX

“STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND OR CITIZENS OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM”

IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, IT’S BEEN AMAZING TO ME AT GOD’S INSPIRATION IN ME IN WRITING, I PRAY, BLESSED TEACHINGS THAT WILL TEACH & REACH MANY FOR TRUE SALVATION IN THE SAVIOR’S NAME BY CONVICTION, CONVERSION, CONSECRATION, AND THEN,COMMISSIONING OF CHILDREN OF FAITH AS HIS MESSENGERS, AMBASSADORS, SERVANTS, PASTORS & TEACHERS & EVEN AS MISSIONARIES! AS WELL AS TEACHINGS, OUR LORD HAS EVEN INSPIRED POETRY IN ME EVERY NOW & THEN! HERE’S A SAMPLE: "STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND, SELFISHLY LIVING AS ‘SLAVES’ TO A WORLD, A DEVIL, & A ‘FLESHLY’ BAND; IGNORING GOD & SINGING THEIR OWN SONG, ‘OFF-KEY", THEY’RE LOUD & SINFULLY STRONG.

STRANGERS TO "TRUTH" & ALL THINGS RIGHT, THEY WANDER ON EARTH IN THEIR ‘SOULISH NIGHT’, IGNORING THE GOD OF LOVE & LIGHT, DANCING & PRANCING & JUMPING IN THEIR SIN, THEY EASILY TURN AWAY FROM "GOD’S: MIGHT HAVE BEENI"

"NEW LIFE IN CHRIST" IS TO THEM A ‘BORE’, BECAUSE LIFE ON THEIR OWN IS IN INDULGENT & SINFUL TREASURE, BUT VOID OF GOD, IT’S SIN-NATURE’S ‘PLEASURE'(?).

SO DAY BY DAY IN THEIR SELFISH WAY, THEY WILLFULLY LIVE BLINDED TO GOD’S "BEST & BETTER DAY"; THAT’S THE DAY OF REDEMPTION FOR SOULS IN SIN, BUT THEY WILLFULLY IGNORE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.”

"STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND"? IN THE LAST PART OF HEBREWS 11:13,THERE IS A PHRASE DESCRIBING HEBREW BELIEVERS BEFORE THEY FOUND, YES, BY GOD’S MERCY & GRACE, THE TRUE PATH OF BLOOD REDEMPTION: PAUL WROTE, THAT MANY WERE: "STRANGERS & PILGRIMS ON THE EARTH", AT LEAST FOR AWHILE, THEN’HEARING GOD’S PROMISE’, WERE PERSUADED TO HOLD ON FROM THAT DAY FORWARD TO THEIR COMING CROWNING IN THE BLESSING OF SPIRITUAL FREEDOM THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST’S GOSPEL FOREVER & EVER EVEN AFTER THEIR EARTHLY PHYSICAL DEATH TO LIVE ETERNALLY WITH CHRIST IN HEAVEN, NOT HELL, STILL FAITHFULLY READY TO "WASH THE MASTER’S FEET THERE AS THEY DID HERE!"

IN "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS", WILLIAM COWPER AUTHORED WORDS HE ENTITLED "LIGHT SHINING OUT OF DARKNESS", SAYING: "BLIND UNBELIEF IS SURE TO ERR, AND SCAN GOD’S WORK IN VAIN; GOD IS HIS OWN INTERPRETER, AND HE WILL MAKE IT PLAIN."

BUT, STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND? STRANGERS TO GOD HIMSELF? STRANGERS TO HIS SON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? STRANGERS TO HIS HOLY SPIRIT? STRANGERS TO HIS ETERNAL WORD, HIS "MILK", HIS "BREAD", HIS "FRUIT", HIS "PATHWAY", HIS "GUIDING LIGHT" & STRANGERS TO HIS"GRACIOUS MAP OF BLOOD REDEMPTION & RECONCILIATION WITH THE HOLY FATHER FOR ALL MANKIND", THRU TRUST IN CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD, HIS DEATH, HIS RESURRECTION, HIS ASCENSION, CROWNED IN GLORY, SEATED ON GOD’S THRONE & INTERCEDING FOR YOU IN PARTICULAR AS IF YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE THE LORD JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED FOR?

HE TOOK WITH HIM TO THE CROSS YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE & MINE. WHEN JESUS ALLOWED HIS CRUCIFIXION, HE KNEW "YOU" HAD TO BE "CRUCIFIED WITH HIM", YOUR ‘OLD MAN’ YOUR ‘OLD SIN-NATURE, YOUR ‘OLD LIFE DECEIVED BY SATAN HIMSELF’! HOW CAN I SHARE THIS TRUTH WITHOUT ITS FOUNDATION IN GENESIS 2:1-14?

THUS THE HEAVENS & THE EARTH WERE FINISHED, AND ALL THE HOST OF THEM. AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD ENDED HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD MADE; AND GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, & SANCTIFIED IT (OR "SET IT APART"); AND HE RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD MADE.

THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVENS & THE EARTH WHEN THEY WERE CREATED, IN THE DAY THAT THE LORD GOD MADE THE EARTH & THE HEAVENS. AND EVERY PLANT OF THE FIELD BEFORE IT WAS IN THE EARTH, AND EVERY HERB OF THE FIELD BEFORE IT GREW; FOR THE LORD GOD HAD NOT CAUSED ITTO RAIN UPON THE EARTH, AND THERE WAS NOT A MAN TO TILL THE GROUND.

BUT THERE WENT UP A MIST FROM THE EARTH, & WATERED THE WHOLE FACE OF THE GROUND. AND THE LORD FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND, & BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH OF LIFE; AND MAN BECAME A LIVING SOUL. {BUT ONLY A LIVING SOUL, BECAUSE, AS YET, NOT "NEW-BORN" CITIZENS OF GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM & HIS SPIRITUAL FAMILY!).

VERSE 8 &FOLLOWING: AND THE LORD GOD PLANTED A GARDEN EASTWARD IN EDEN; AND THERE HE PUT THE MAN WHOM HE HAD FORMED. AND OUT OF THE GROUND MADE THE LORD GOD TO GROW EVERY TREE THAT IS PLEASANT TO YOUR SIGHT, AND GOOD FOR FOOD; THE TREE OF LIFE ALSO IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN, & THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD & EVIL.

AND A RIVER WENT OUT OF EDEN TO WATER THE GARDEN; AND FROM THERE IT WAS PARTED, & BECAME INTO FOUR HEADS. THE NAME OF THE FIRST IS PISON; THAT IS IT WHICH COMPASSES THE WHOLE LAND OF HAVILAH, WHERE THERE IS GOLD; [INTERESTING WORD,HAVILAH; EXODUS 15:22 SPEAKS OF THOSE WHO "WENT OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS OF SHUR…". IT WAS SW OF PALESTINE I OH, "WHERE THERE IS GOLD"I]

LITERALLY,PHYSICAL GOLD CAN CAPTURE A MAN TO THE POINT HE’S SO ENRAPTURED WITH FINDING "GOLD" THAT HE/SHE MISSES GOD!

VERSE 12 SAYS," AND THE GOLD OF THAT LAND IS GOOD; THERE IS BDELLIUM & THE ONXY STONE." BUT YOU UNDERSTAND, MANY ARE ‘ENSLAVED’ TOWARD, LITERALLY, ‘GOLD’ BUT RESISTANT TO THE GIFT OF GOD OF ‘SPIRITUAL GOLD’, TO THE POINT, MANY ‘PROFESSORS OF FAITH’ LIVE BANKRUPT, PENNILESS LIVES OF FAITH, IGNORING WHAT THE TRUE INHERITANCE OF "BORN-AGAIN SAINTS ARE",& LIVING A SPIRITUALLY ‘POVERTY-WALK’, LIKE A ‘BEGGAR’ ON A STREET CORNER, ‘SIN-NATURE RICH,BUT SPIRITUALLY IMPOVERISHED’, POOR & BABKRUPT AS "HELL" IS ITSELF UNDER SATAN’S FOREVER IMPRISONMENT!!!

BUT IN 1 PETER 2:9 THE APOSTLE SAID, "BUT YOU, (DISCIPLE OF CHRIST!), ARE A CHOSEN GENERATION, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PECULIAR PEOPLE, THAT "YOU" SHOULD SHOW FORTH THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO HAS CALLED YOU OUT OF (YOUR) DARKNESS INTO "HIS" MARVELOUS LIGHT"!

REALLY? "STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED

LAND?" OR: "BORN-AGAIN CITIZENS OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM?"

ARE "YOU" A BORN-AGAIN CITIZEN OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM?" ARE "YOU" LIVING FOR THE "LEAST" THE WORLD AROUND YOU OFFERS, OR DO YOU PASSIONATELY PURSUE ALL GOD SAYS YOU ARE "IN CHRIST"?

I AFFIRM THIS TEACHING WITH THE WORDS OF PAUL IN EPHESIANS 2:13-22! "BUT NOW ‘IN CHRIST JESUS’ YOU WHO SOMETIMES WERE

FAR OFF ARE MADE NIGH BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. FOR HE IS OUR PEACE, WHO HAS MADE BOTH ONE (THE HOLY SAVIOR & THE SANCTIFIED " SAI NT11 !), AND HAD BROKEN DOWN THE MIDDLE WALL OF PARTITION BETWEEN US;

HAVING ABOLISHED IN HIS ‘FLESHLY BODY’ THE ENMITY, EVEN THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES; FOR TO MAKE IN HIMSELF OF TWAIN ONE NEW MAN, SO MAKING PEACE; AND THAT HE MIGHT RECONCILE BOTH UNTO GOD IN ONE BODY BY THE CROSS, HAVING SLAIN THE ENMITY THEREBY:

AND CAME & PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHICH WERE AFAR OFF, & TO THEM THAT ARE NEAR.

(IS THAT ‘NEAR’ BUT NOT " RE-B ORN11,‘NEAR’ BUT NOT "SPIRIT-BIRTHED & SPIRI T-FILLED11 ?).

FOR THROUGH CHRIST JESUS, WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT UNTO THE FATHER. "NOW" THEREFORE YOU ARE NO MORE STRANGERS & FOREIGNERS, BUT FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE SAINTS, & OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.

AND ARE BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES & PROPHETS, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF BEING THE CHIEF CORNER STONE; IN WHOM ALL THE BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER GROWS UNTO AN HOLY TEMPLE IN THE LAND: IN WHOM YOU ALSO ARE BUILT TOGETHER FOR AN HABITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT." (CAN YOU SAY, "AMEN"?).

THERE IS A HYMN OF GREAT IMPORTANCE, A HYMN FROM THE "BROADMAN HYMNAL",(PUBLISHED BY THE BROADMAN

PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE,IN THE YEAR, 19401}. THE TITLE? "THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT"(P.216)1( WHERE HAVE YOU CHOSEN, OR, BEEN CHOSEN, TO DWELL?}

"THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT, WHERE SAINTS IMMORTAL REIGN; ETERNAL DAY EXCLUDES THE NIGHT, & PLEASURES BANISH PAIN.THERE EVERLASTING SPRING ABIDES, & NEVER WITHERING FLOWERS; DEATH, LIKE A NARROW SEA, DIVIDES THIS HEAVENLY LAND FROM OURS.

SWEET FIELDS BEYOND THE SWELLING FLOOD STAND DRESSED IN LIVING GREEN; SO TO THE JEWS OLD CANAAN STOOD, WHILE JORDAN ROLLED BETWEEN. BUT TIMOROUS MORTALS START & SHRINK TO CROSS THE NARROW SEA, AND LINGER,SHIVERING, ON THE BRINK, & FEAR TO LAUNCH AWAY.

OH, COULD WE MAKE OUR DOUBTS REMOVE, THOSE GLOOMY DOUBTS THAT RISE, AND SEE THE CANAAN THAT WE LOVE WITH UNBECLOUDED EYES! COULD WE BUT CLIMB WHERE MOSES STOOD, AND VIEW THE LANDSCAPE O’ER, NOT JORDAN’S STREAM NOR DEATH’S COLD FLOOD SHOULD FRIGHT US FROM THE SHORE."

ARE "YOU" IN THE "LAND OF PURE DELIGHT" OR ARE YOU STILL WALKING IN "THE LAND OF SELF, FLESH, FALLEN WORLD WITH SATAN’S DELIGHT & YOUR DECEPTIVE REWARD?" IN OUR CHURCH WORSHIP THIS MORNING AT "NORTHWOODS CHURCH" IN KELLER, TEXAS, I HEARD A SONG l’D NEVER HEARD BEFORE –IT’S FAIRLY NEW, ENTITLED, "JESUS CHRIST, MY LIVING HOPE", (BETHEL MUSIC; ADORANDO PUBLISHING HOUSE) I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE WITH THE WORDS

"HOW GREAT THE CHASM THAT LAY BETWEEN US, HOW HIGH THE MOUNTAIN I COULD NOT CLIMB. IN DESPERATION I TURNED TO HEAVEN AND SPOKE "YOUR NAME" INTO THE NIGHT.

THEN THRU’ THE DARKNESS YOUR LOVING KINDNESS {GOD’S!) TORE THRU’ THE SHADOWS OF MY SOUL.

THE WORK IS FINISHED THE END IS WRITTEN, JESUS CHRIST MY LIVING HOPE.

WHO COULD IMAGINE SO GREAT A MERCY, WHAT COULD FATHOM SUCH BOUNDLESS GRACE? THE GOD OF AGES STEPPED DOWN FROM GLORY TO WEAR MY SIN AND BEAR MY SHAME.

THE CROSS HAS SPOKEN –I AM FORGIVEN – THE KING OF KINGS CALLS ME HIS OWN. BEAUTIFUL SAVIOR, l’MYOURS FOREVER, JESUS CHRIST MY LIVING HOPE.

HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE ONE WHO SET ME FREE, HALLELUJAH! DEATH HAS LOST ITS GRIP ON ME! YOU HAVE BROKEN EVERY CHAIN, THERE’S SALVATION IN YOUR NAME, JESUS CHRIST, MY LIVING HOPE

THEN CAME THE MORNING THAT SEALED THE PROMISE YOUR BURIED BODY BEGAN TO BREATHE; OUT OF THE SILENCE THE ROARING LION DECLARED THE GRACE HAS NO CLAIM ON ME. "JESUS YOURS IS THE VICTORY."

HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE ONE WHO SET ME FREE, HALLELUJAH, DEATH HAS LOST ITS GRIP ON ME. YOU HAVE BROKEN EVERY CHAIN THERE’S SALVATION IN YOUR NAME-JESUS CHRIST MY LIVING HOPE SHOW LESS OF ME AND MORE OF THEE." CAN YOU SAY: "HALLELUJAH! GLORY!TO HIS NAME"? WITH OPEN-ARMS-JESUS SAYS, "COME TO ME!"

CHAPTER SEVEN

“PUMPING SELFISH FLESH OR PRAISING THE SUPREME FATHER?”

“FALLEN-AWAY MANKIND FROM GOD’S BIRTHING OF THEM WITH A RIGHT TO CHOOSE”, NATURAL MEN CHOSE & STILL CHOOSE ‘FLESHLY FATE’ & IGNORES GOD’S GRACIOUS GIFT OF SAVING FAITH! FLESHLY FATE IS THE ‘SELFISH RULING’ IN A MAN’S HEART & MIND INDEPENDENT OF GOD & HIS LOVE, GRACE, & MERCY! SPIRITUAL NOBILITY IS IGNORED & RADICAL SPIRITUAL NUMBNESS REIGNS! UNBELIEF IGNORES EVERY MIRACLE OF GOD THAT ABOUNDS AROUND MANKIND LIKE THE OCEANS OF THE WORLD SURROUND ‘DRY LAND’!

IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”,(P.457), I READ A STATEMENT BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN HIS WRITING ENTITLED “BIBLIOLATRIES”. HE SAID: “GOD IS NOT DUMB, THAT HE SHOULD SPEAK NO MORE; IF YOU HAVE WANDERINGS IN THE WILDERNESS AND DON’T FIND SINAI, IT’S YOUR SOUL& YOUR HEART (& YOUR SELF-CENTERED WILL) THAT IS POOR.” TODAY AS I READ THAT WISE STATEMENT I THOUGHT, “THE SELFISH PUMPERS OF FLESH”, IN LOVE WITH THEIR OLD SIN-NATURES, IGNORE ‘SINAI’ BUT ALSO “THE SAVIOR”, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!- IS TODAY,2019, DIFFERENT FROM ALL ‘HUMAN HISTORY’ THAT IGNORED OR IGNORES GOD’S “KNOCK” ON THEIR HEARTS’ DOORS?

IN JOHN 12 I WANT YOU TO SEE THE LORD JESUS’S CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF “PUMPING FLESH” OR “PRAISING THE SUPREME FATHER”! JOHN 12:23-28a, tells us, Jesus speaking, “The hour is come, that the ‘Son of Man’ should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of fall into the ground and die, it abides alone:but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.

He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?But for this cause came I unto this hour. Verse 28a, “Father, glorify Your name.”

There was no spirit in Christ Jesus of “Pumping Flesh”,but living His life fully and faithfully to honor the Father’s will and purpose for His life as the Son of God – and if it meant the Cross, “So be it”!,,, without a doubt or fear!!

In the world around you are, sadly, lives lived unaware of the will of God – and for many, even though they know the will of God, they will not say “Yes” to Him! Sadly, many live, countless lives, of unawareness of their becoming and being,through saving faith in His beloved Son, Christ Jesus,“shining lights”, who are to live lives rejoicing in His abiding presence within them, and the “Light” in them shining through them to enlighten the unsaved, unredeemed, ‘away from God people living for self’!

Oswald Chambers, in his book “My Utmost For His Highest” wrote: (pps.58-59), “Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin,but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own spiritual nature. For instance, the only test as to whether we allow an emotion to have its way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would condemn, allow it no more way. But if it be an emotion kindled by the Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in your life, it will react on a lower level.”

Where have your “life choices” left you? The “low level” of self-choice, self-will, self-pleasure, self-satisfaction, even if it means continual, eternal separation from the God who made you, lost you, but paid a price through the shed blood of His Son on the Cross to redeem you & reconcile you to Holy God?

Or has it been, will it be, the “Eternal Life Choice” by repentance to God and faith in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross, His precious blood to bring you forgiveness from the very heart of God, elevated out of spiritual death into “Eternal Life”, and by God’s grace and mercy then commissioning you as “disciples of Christ” and “faithful witnesses” of His blood redemption to labor to needy souls surrounding you that they might find Christ Jesus?

Again, in John 12,following the Father’s voice, after Jesus had said, “Father, glorify Your Name,” in Verses 28-29, we read:then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore,that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said,An angel spoke to Him.

Verses 30-32, Jesus answered & said, “This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” OH; THEN,IN VERSES 35&36,JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, “YET A LITTLE WHILE IS THE LIGHT WITH YOU. WALK YOU WHILE YOU HAVE THE LIGHT, LEST DARKNESS COMES UPON YOU; FOR HE THAT WALKS IN DARKNESS DOESN’T KNOW WHERE HE GOES.” OH, SO, WHERE IS YOUR ‘LIFE PATH’? IS IT ‘SPIRITUAL DARKNESS’ OR DO YOU “WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE ‘ETERNAL SONSHINE’ OF CHRIST JESUS”?

AGAIN, JOHN 12, VERSES 42-50! NEVERTHELESS AMONG THE CHIEF RULERS (EVEN A MODERN-DAY PRESIDENT & SENATE OR HOUSE CONGRESSMEN?),ALSO BELIEVED ON “CHRIST”; BUT BECAUSE OF THE PHARISEES THEY DID NOT (‘PUBLICLY’) CONFESS HIM. LEST THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE: FOR THEY LOVED THE PRAISE OF MEN MORE THAN THE PRAISE OF GOD.

JESUS CRIED AND SAID, “HE THAT BELIEVES ON (TRUSTS IN, RELIES UPON, ADHERES TO!) ME, BELIEVES NOT ON ME, BUT ON HIM THAT SENT ME. AND HE THAT SEES ME SEES HIM THAT SENT ME.I AM COME A LIGHT INTO THE WORLD, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES ON ME (TRUSTS, RELIES UPON,YIELDS TO, ABANDONS THE OLD ‘CRUCIFIED LIFE’, TO BE BLESSED WITH THE “NEW LIFE” OF THE TRUE SAVIOR & LORD & MASTER & RULER OVER ALL – OVER ALL?THIS WORLD INFILTRATED BY SATAN & HIS KINGDOM, SATAN’S DOMAIN- OR THE SAVIOR’S SOVEREIGN RULE OVER HIM & HIS, YOU & YOUR LIFE OF UNBELIEF & DISOBEDIENCE OR HIS MASTER-FULL RULE OVER YOU & YOURS?), AGAIN, BUT TRUSTING CHRIST,, RELYING UPON, YIELDED TO, HAVING ACCEPTED JESUS’ ATONEMENT & ‘THE END’ OF YOUR FLESHLY, SINFUL, WORLDLY, DEVIL-DOMINATED EXISTENCE, YOU COME TO LIVE,BREATHE,& SHARE WITH OTHERS THE “VERY LIFE, BREATH, FULLNESS, & POWER & PURPOSE OF ‘CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY’!!

BACK TO JOHN 12:47-50! “AND IF ANY HEARS MY WORDS, & BELIEVES NOT, I JUDGE HIM NOT: FOR I CAME NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, BUT TO SAVE THE WORLD. HE THAT REJECTS ME, AND RECEIVES NOT MY WORDS, HAS ONE THAT JUDGES HIM: THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN, THE SAME SHALL JUDGE HIM IN THE LAST DAY.(THAT’S THE MAN OR WOMAN,OLD OR YOUNG!).

FOR I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF MYSELF; BUT THE FATHER WHICH SENT ME, HE GAVE ME A COMMANDMENT, WHAT I SHOULD SAY, AND WHAT I SHOULD SPEAK. AND I KNOW THAT HIS COMMANDMENT IS LIFE EVERLASTING; WHATSOEVER I SPEAK THEREFORE, EVEN AS THE FATHER SAID TO ME, SO I SPEAK.”

BUT “HEAR ME!” IN THE WORLDWIDE CULTURES, EVEN ‘RELIGIOUS CULTURES’, LIKE THE ‘RELIGIOUS JEWS (?)’ OF JESUS’S DAY WHO WANTED NO PART OF HIM SINCE THEY WERE ‘SO RELIGIOUS ALREADY’, THEY THEN BELIEVED, ‘WHO NEEDS A SAVIOR IF YOU’RE RELIGIOUS?’ AND IN ACTS 4:18-20, THE ‘RELIGIOUS JEWS’,IN JERUSALEM, CONFRONTED BY “EVANGELISTIC CRUSADERS”, HAD NO PATIENCE AT ALL WITH HEAVEN’S “BORN-AGAIN SONS OF SAVING FAITH”, WITH THE “BELOVED LUKE’S WORDS”,

“AND THEY (JEWISH RELIGIOUS LEADERS) CALLED THEM (JESUS’S “BORN-AGAIN DISCIPLES”!), AND COMMANDED THEM NOT TO SPEAK AT ALL NOR TEACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS. (ANOTHER PAUSE! ARE YOU FULLY AWARE OF 21^ST CENTURY AMERICA WHERE, YES, PUBLIC PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD OF GOD IS BECOMING INTOLERANT TO “STUPID POLITICAL LEADERS, BRAIN-DEAD PROFESSORS, & DECEIVED MASS-GATHERINGS OF OPPOSERS TO GOD, HIS SON, HIS SPIRIT, & HIS WORD”?). ACTS 4:19-20, BUT PETER & JOHN ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, “WHETHER IT BE RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD TO HEARKEN UNTO YOU MORE THAN UNTO GOD, JUDGE YOU. FOR WE CANNOT BUT SPEAK THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE SEEN & HEARD.”

ALWAYS REMEMBER, AS A TRUE FOLLOWER OF KING JESUS, YOUR SAVIOR & LORD, & APPOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO BE “CHRIST’S WITNESSES”, THAT LIKE PETER & JOHN IN ACTS 4:29-31, YOU’LL FIND “GREAT ASSURANCES” AS YOU CHOOSE TO BE HIS WITNESS IN THE MIDST OF CULTURAL OPPOSITION! THE WORD SAYS: “AND NOW, LORD, BEHOLD THEIR THREATENINGS: AND GRANT UNTO YOUR SERVANTS, THAT WITH ALL BOLDNESS THEY MAY SPEAK YOUR WORD,

BY STRETCHING FORTH YOUR HAND TO HEAL; AND THAT SIGNS & WONDERS MAY BE DONE BY THE NAME OF YOUR HOLY CHILD JESUS. BUT WHEN THEY HAD PRAYED THE PLACE WAS SHAKEN WHERE THEY WERE ASSEMBLED TOGETHER; AND THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND THEY SPOKE THE WORD OF GOD WITH BOLDNESS.”

HOW MANY ARE YOU AWARE OF IN CHURCHES ACROSS AMERICA WHO LIVE SERVING CHRIST, SUPPOSEDLY, BUT HAVE NEVER “CROSSED THE LINE” TO UNSAVED SOULS TO SHARE “REDEMPTIONS’ STORY OF “NEW-BORN IN CHRIST ALONE”? ‘BEST EFFORT’ DOESN’T BIRTH DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, ‘BOGUS APPEARANCE’ DOESN’T SEE MIRACLES OF GRACE, ‘PHONY-BOLOGNA’ DOESN’T FEED THE SICK IN SIN EXCEPT BY “THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HANDS ON THE MIND, HEART, & SOUL OF UNBELIEVERS”!

ROMANS 1:20-28 IS GOD’S EXPOSURE THROUGH PAUL OF UNBELIEVERS & PRETENDERS! “FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS (OF GOD) FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE, EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER & GODHEAD; SO THAT THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE: BECAUSE THAT, WHEN THEY KNEW GOD, THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS, AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED.

PROFESSING THEMSELVES TO BE WISE, THEY BECAME FOOLS,AND CHANGED THE GLORY OF THE INCORRUPTIBLE GOD INTO AN IMAGE MADE LIKE TO CORRUPTIBLRE MAN, & TO BIRDS,&FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS, AND CREEPING THINGS. WHEREFORE GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP TO UNCLEANNESS THROUGH THE LUSTS OF THEIR OWN HEARTS, TO DISHONOR THEIR OWN BODIES BETWEEN THEMSELVES:

WHO CHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE, & WORSHIPPED & SERVED THE CREATURE MORE THAN THE “CREATOR” WHO IS BLESSED FOREVER. AMEN. FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS: FOR EVEN THEIR WOMEN DID CHANGE THE NATURAL USE INTO THAT WHICH IS AGAINST NATURE: & LIKEWISE ALSO THE MEN, LEAVING THE NATURAL USE OF THE WOMAN ( AND THAT’S IN MARRIAGE ONLY!!!), BURNED IN THEIR LUST ONE TOWARD ANOTHER; MEN WITH MEN WORKING THAT WHICH IS UNSEEMLY, & RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THAT RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS MEET. (OR MET IN ONE’S LOST ESTATE OF SIN & DEATH,SEPARATED FROM HOLY GOD UNTIL THEY OPEN THE HEART’S DOOR & A WILLFUL MIND TO CONFESS THEIR SIN & THEIR NEED OF “THE SAVIOR & LORD” TO BE IN, OVER, & AROUND THEIR EVERY STEP THROUGH THE REMAINING EARTHLY TIME!). VERSE 28,

AND EVEN AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, TO DO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT CONVENIENT!’

ARE “YOU” ‘OK’ WITH YOUR REPROBATE MIND? OR WOULD YOU HEAR, ACCEPT, & RECEIVE GOD’S “GIFT” OF A “NEW HEART, NEW MIND, & NEW WILL” OUT TO PLEASE THE LORD OF GLORY & MERCY & LOVE? I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE WITH AN OLD HYMN IN THE BROADMAN HYMNAL PUBLISHED IN 1940 BY THE BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, WRITTEN BY FANNY J.CROSBY & W.H.DOANE. IT SAYS: “PASS ME NOT, O GENTLE SAVIOR, HEAR MY HUMBLE CRY; WHILE ON OTHERS YOU ARE CALLING, DO NOT PASS ME BY.

LET ME AT A THRONE OF MERCY FIND A SWEET RELIEF; KNEELING THERE IN DEEP CONTRITION, HELP MY UNBELIEF.

TRUSTING ONLY IN YOUR MERIT, WOULD I SEEK YOUR FACE; HEAL MY WOUNDED, BROKEN SPIRIT, SAVE ME BY YOUR GRACE.

YOU THE “SPRING” OF ALL MY COMFORT, MORE THAN LIFE TO ME, WHOM HAVE I ON EARTH BESIE YOU? WHOM IN HEAVEN BUT YOU?

SAVIOR, SAVIOR, HEAR MY HUMBLE CRY; WHILE ON OTHERS YOU ARE CALLING, (PLEASE) DO NOT PASS ME BY.” COULD THESE WORDS OF A GREAT OLD HYMN STIR YOUR HEART ENOUGH FOR “YOU” TO CRY OUT: “LORD, JESUS, PLEASE, DON’T PASS BY ME! NO MAN ON EARTH NEEDS YOU MORE THAN ME.”

WHY NOT, RIGHT NOW, “RUSH” TO THE THRONE OF CHRIST WHERE HE SITS IN THE SEAT OF MERCY, GRACE, & LOVE, LONG-WAITING ON YOU TO CALL ON HIM!

AMEN?

CHAPTER EIGHT

“MENTAL MISTAKES OF MISGUIDED MEN”

I don’t know how anyone can read Paul’s message in Romans 1 and not understand the “mental mistakes of misguided men”! Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote in Verses 16-26, and Verse 28, the following:

Romans 1:16-26,28 says: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every who believes (or trusts in!); to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (or the African, the Arminian, the European, the American, the South American, the Asian, any man on any continent of the entire world!!);

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith (or “trust”)’. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Because that which may be known of God IS MANIFEST IN THEM; for God shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they (all mankind then and now!) are without excuse: BECAUSE THAT, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations (or ‘speculations’), and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause GOD GAVE THEM UP unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Verse 28, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, to do those things which are not convenient..”! AND THEY GOT FILLED UP! LOOK AT VERSES 28b-32!

“…and God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

OH!! Then in Romans 2:4-16 Paul tells us about the “captured by Christ” or the “contentious ones opposed to repentance and faith in Christ alone”, saying, “Or do you despise the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance or longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you TO REPENTANCE? But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life:

BUT unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first, and also the Gentile; BUT glory, honor, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; BUT glory, honor, and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles; (Every man working good? Honoring, yielded to, surrendered to the King of kings and Lord of lords, being the “temple” in which the eternal Christ dwells to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power, THROUGH YOU?).

For there is no respect of persons with God. (Although many feel God ought to respect them concerning their “best effort”, even when it has nothing to do with “True Faith”?). For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

The mental, yes, and the ‘blinded, darkened, unbelieving heart’ explain, expose, and uncover the personal, religious, and, for many, the national indifference to Divine Revelation and Unveiling of the One and Only Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus! BUT, the “captured by Christ” no longer live under the bondage of unbelief, religious pretense, or religious ‘best-effort’ mentality! They accept “crucified with Christ” and “raised up in the newness of His resurrected, reigning ministry”, daily taking the sentence of death to the “old man”, yielding daily to His Indwelling Presence in the “new man”, again, extending His Kingdom, proving His power, and expressing His love, THROUGH THE TRUE, REPENTANT, YIELDED BELIEVER TO HIS EVER ABIDING PRESENCE IN YOU, HIS “NEW TEMPLE”, having repented, and willfully choosing to allow Jesus, yes, to be Himself through you!!!

MERCY is the measure of the very heart of God told to all of fallen humanity, but not all of fallen humanity even know, care, or are out to find God’s mercy – they say,“In our best effort we’re OK”! REALLY? But this is why the Holy Word says, in Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let US therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY, AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED.”

To be without Christ Jesus, abiding within, ruling and reigning, expressing Himself as “the Light of the world” in you and around you and through you, is willfully choosing to be your own lord, striving to overcome only what is overcome through the blood of the Lamb of God, infecting your world more and more with the radical consequences of a ‘sin-loving’ but ‘religious, empty, self-serving life’, convinced by deceived religious thinkers that “best effort” is all Holy God is concerned about, never considering His “Temple Presence” in true repentant, yielded choice of “Christ in me, for me, through me”, extending His eternal Presence, in the avenue and street of the “born-again believers”, those believers willing to choose death daily to their old self , that His Resurrected Life in you might be, not simply prominent for a world to witness but preeminent in HIS SELF EXPRESSION IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU DAILY!!!

Do YOU really know the “cost of true faith”, the “cost of true religion”, the “cost of true abandonment of the best of fleshly effort”? In Luke 14:25-27 we read, And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them, “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father; and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever does not bear His cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” How clear is that for you?

Christ Jesus comes! Receive Revelation 3:19-22!! “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and him with Me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.”

Christ Jesus comes! And as He comes, through the witness of the Holy Spirit and His awesome Word, He exposes the unrestrained sinfulness of men AND unveils the unrestrained love of God!

Christ Jesus still abides in the repentant heart and trusting mind that says “No” to the world, one’s old sin nature, and even to Satan himself, but true believers say “Yes” to the resurrected, reigning Christ! In 2 Corinthians 1:19-24 Paul enlightens us even more, saying, “For all the promises of God in Christ are ‘yes’, and in Him ‘Amen’, unto the glory of God through repentant, trusting believers;

Who Now He which establishes us with you in Christ, (establish means “makes to stand”), AND ‘anointed’ us is God Himself; who has also ‘sealed us’ and given the earnest of the Spirit (the guarantee, the abiding treasure, the never-ending pledge) of the Spirit in our hearts.

Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for by faith you stand.”

Dare I ask you? Do you believe? Are you trusting in Him, His Word, His ever abiding Presence? Is it by Faith in Him you stand, walk, live, unveiling His Resurrected Presence in your daily journey through life wherever it carries you?

In the old “Broadman Hymnal”, published in 1940 by The Broadman Press of Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “O come, all you faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come you, O come to Bethlehem; Come and behold Him born the King of angels;

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing, all you bright hosts of heaven above; Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

Yes, Lord, we greet You, born this happy morning, Jesus, to You be all glory given; Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;

O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.”

This Easter Sunday! Is it your declaration of submission to His earthly reign through His abiding presence in you? Or do you need to open the door of your heart, maybe for the first time, saying, “Christ, be Jesus in me; No longer me but Thee; Resurrection Power, fill me this hour; Jesus, be Jesus in me”? Can you say right now: “Make ME this day another earthly residence where you reign as King of my heart and life”?

CHAPTER NINE

“VICTIMIZED LIVING OR A VICTORIOUS LIFE?”

The Random House Collegiate Dictionary, Revised Edition, 1975, by Random House, Inc., says ‘victimized’ means, “to make a victim of, to dupe, swindle, or cheat; to slay as or like a sacrificial victim.”

And “victimized living by the masses of unbelievers in Christ’s Blood Atonement” live, yes, like many ‘church folk’, deceived, demeaned, distressed, yes, led astray from the victorious Truth of “crucified with Christ”, and following repentance toward God and a vibrant faith and trust in the Blood Atonement, those of true repentant, trusting minds and hearts are “New Born” by the Holy Spirit into Heaven’s gracious gifting of “everlasting life”!

BUT “Victimized living” is deception accepted from the world around you that easily blinded even Adam and Eve from the ‘flesh’ that deceives you and keeps the door of one’s heart and mind opened to the world, the flesh, and Demonic, Devil-constant temptation, so wanting to keep those doors opened, so one loses sight of the fullness of the blessing of Christ as their deceit, the gift of Satan himself, leading them on in yielding to devilish deceit while professing allegiance to Christ’s revealed Truth! It was John Wesley who once said: “All the works of our evil nature are the work of the devil,” but some ‘professing believers’ live their ‘faith-walk’ consenting, yielding, and for a time enjoying their satanic deception!

It was William Shakespeare, in his writing “Twelfth Night”, (Act 111, sc.4,l.108), who wrote: “What, man! Defy the devil: consider he’s an enemy to mankind.” But far too many keep their doors open to Satanic invitations blinded by his hellish ways!

What was it Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-13? “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Yet, many ‘believers’(?) professing Christ have no mature, scriptural understanding that Satan’s aim is to deceive true disciples, seeking, yes, daily, to ruin your witness, your testimony, and your surrender faithfully to Christ’s Lordship, leading YOU down the pathway of his “darkness”!! If you’ve ever read St. Augustine’s “The City of God”, XV, remember, he said: “The Devil often transforms himself into an angel to tempt men, some for their instruction and some for their ruin.” He IS a “master deceiver” out to hold captivity captive under “the wiles of the devil”!

Oh, have you ever read Alexander Brome’s writing called “New Montebank”? Brome wrote: “The devil’s ever kind to his own.” So, there are multitudes of worldly folk who “know the kindness (?) of Satan” as he leads them, deceives them, distracts them from the “true salvation in and through Christ only”, even substituting ‘fleshly best’ for the fullness and fruit of the Holy Spirit! And, dare I say it? Believe I will! “Every temptation of Satan to citizens of God’s world of divine opportunity are temptations DOWNWARD, not to turn you TO God, but away from Him!”

Satan IS “the birther of lies, the author of deception, and the Hollywood-imitator of a sincere ‘religious’ soul”, as he leads you down the pathways of self-indulgence rather than knowing you were crucified with Christ, that your old man, yes, deserved death but Christ Jesus took your old man to Calvary so that no longer he (or YOU) could be manipulated by Satan’s powers of darkness, disbelief, and distraction away from God’s gracious pull on your heart, mind, and spirit. Satan loves, adores, appreciates “falling stars” who were birthed “in Christ”!!

Are YOU aware how Satan so easily sways people, serving them devilish consequences rather than divine rewards? It’s a sad, sad day when one is blinded to his, yes, gentle, calm, but corruptive ways! An old Dutch Proverb said: “Never was hood so holy but the Devil could get his head in it;” and, sadly, far too many ‘religious folk’ are blinded to his occupation in them and around them through their wide-open acceptance of all Christ Jesus died for, Satan wanting to maintain his deceitful and misleading occupation around them, even for some ‘in them’ with his dark presence trying to dim the Light of Christ and His Word!

“Victimized living”? Satan BINDS, Satan BLINDS, he BRUISES, he BELITTLES, he ‘BLESSES’ with his ‘happy, self-satisfying bits and tastes of diseased honey,’ he BETRAYS promising one thing that seems so ‘blissful’ but is BEDABBLED with the ‘paint’ of his satanic artistry, he BEFOULS, he BITTERS every word and every promise of God assuring his enchained that it was God who BOUND them over to Satanic care! Really?

It was Cotton Mather, in his “A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World”, who wrote: “That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. For any to deny the being of a Devil must be from an ignorance or profaneness worse than diabolical.” WOW!

What about what Shakespeare wrote in “Troilus and Cressida”, (Act 111, sc.4,l.108)? “Sometimes we are devils to ourselves When we will tempt the frailty of our powers, Presuming on their changeful potency,” no doubt understanding that, yes, true believers can “play-act”, willfully betraying the Christ within to indulge the old crucified life in fleshly, demonic, worldly desires and unfulfilling fantasies that cannot, will not honor the divine within!! Satan’s portrait of a life professing both faith in Christ and a consistency with hell’s intentions is a life that loves being blessed by God, but quietly, privately, indulges darkness not knowing their ‘dance partner’ is Satan himself or one of his assigned demons to ultimately take you down again to his dark domain!

“Victimized living”? Can true believers, at times, be overtaken by spiritual carelessness, even being unconcerned about demonic activity? In 2 Peter 5:6-11, the beloved disciple of Christ wrote: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; Casting all your care upon him; for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who has called us unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. OR “SO BE IT, LORD”, as you daily take the sentence of death daily to your old self that Christ in you, for you, and through you, wages war against Satan for Christ’s honor through you as Christ’s servant, not Satan’s slave!!!

Jessie Brown Pounds wrote a hymn entitled “A Place in the Ranks for Me”, in the old “American Hymnal” of 1933! It says: “Listen! The trumpet of God is sounding, Is sounding from sea to sea; On the field where the brave are falling, There’s a place in the ranks for me.

See, the army of God advances, In strength of His holy might; See the flash of the moving lances, And the glitter of helmets bright.

Like the trumpet of God is sounding, Is sounding for victory; I must go, for the brave are falling, And the Captain has need of me.

There’s a place in the ranks for me! A place in the ranks for me! On the field where the brave are falling, There’s a place in the ranks for me.”

Whether YOU are aware of it or not, Satan is alive, he is active, and he so longs to reinstate demonic bondage! He comes as a thief in the night to steal every rich blessing Christ has promised, given, and will protect if we give Him His rightful place as Lord, Savior, Master, Conqueror over every evil we face including Satan and his demon forces that are just as active today as they were in the days of our Lord and Savior thousands of years ago!

In Luke 22:31-32 the Lord Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not; and when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.”

There is a “strong-arm commander-in-chief” of the forces of darkness, desirous that God’s created world should be a kingdom of darkness, even challenging Jesus as he does us, so desirous of leading us astray from loyalty to our Lord and Savior to a supposedly sanctified life of good AND evil, of the Savior and Satan, and of Heaven’s best and Hell’s imitations! Luke 4:1-13 is an insightful Word of preparation for all believers! It says:

“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost (Do YOU understand for Christ to be in You is also for YOU to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit?) returned from Jordan, AND was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, If You be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word of God.” And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And Satan said unto Him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, All this power will I give to you and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me (by every birthed man, woman, or child? It doesn’t take long for every birthed baby to instantly ‘cry’ for what they want!); and to whomsoever I will I give it. If You (Jesus) therefore will worship me, all shall be Yours.

And Jesus answered and said unto Satan, Get behind Me, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shall you serve. [What about YOU? Are YOU still “serving” the world, the old sin-nature, AND Satan? OR are YOU fully submitted to the King of kings and Lord of lords?].

And he brought Jesus to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him, “If You be the Son of God, cast yourself down from here. For it is written, He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You. And in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.” And Jesus answering said, “It is said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” And when the devil had ended all temptations, he departed from Him for a season.

How illumined are you in your mind, your spirit, and your walk, as YOU LEARN that YOU are a prime target of Satan, understanding he’s out to turn YOU away from ALL JESUS IS for you, in you, through you, substituting fleshly failure for full obedience, or momentary pleasures for eternal obedience, or “ONLY ONE LITTLE FALLING AWAY”, when the demonic activity can be fatal to faith, obedience, and love of the Savior, because obedience to Satan introduces again that fatal darkness?

Again, receive Peter’s incisive, illumining, liberating words! 1 Peter 5:6-11 we read: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you. Be sober, (serious minded!), be vigilant; because YOUR adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers (of faith) that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”

I have to share Shakespeare’s words in “Comedy of Errors”, (Act IV, sc.3,l.65), “He must have a long spoon that shall eat with the devil.” Oh, and Martin Luther’s words in “Table Talk”? Satan has two manner of shapes, as he disguises himself: the shape of a serpent, to affright and kill; or else in the form of a silly sheep, to lie and deceive; these are his two court colors.”

Satan IS the world’s principle author and boastful egotist as he lies about himself, lays traps for all, ‘hires’ the brain-dead, the self-fulfillers, and the ‘flesh –world’, bound by his chains of darkness, immorality, and self-pleasure in sensual fulfillment that ‘smells’, self-idolatry that ‘binds’ and ‘ruins’ even some ‘professors’ of religious faith! In his writing, “Handbook of Proverbs”, Henry George Bohn wrote: “The Devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned with false doctrine.” Is it possible that you, a ‘professor of faith in Christ’, having been blinded to victory over Satan because, for you, his ‘poisonous delights, worldly pleasures, and self-indulging, was just too delightful to turn from, that you refused “Christ’s knock”, and kept on being deceived in “Satan’s lock” though broken by Christ Jesus on the Cross, through the Cross, for the glory of His Name, not Satan’s fame?

What was it Elizabeth Barrett Browning said in “Aurora Leigh”? “The devil’s most devilish when respectable.” Are you still “respecting” Satan as he leads you joyfully in his deceits and lies and imitation-spiritual-skills? There IS a hell to gain and a heaven to lose if you choose to play with him on his terms, willfully choosing to shut God’s door to His never-ending, freeing, yes, emancipating, liberating, disengaging ministry of, yes, His victory and conquest over Satan’s devilish, demeaning, destructive, disuniting activity, but you ‘think’ it’s OK to ‘play’ around with Satan and his army, like children with their birthday play-toys, but Satan is not a ‘play-toy’ – he’s an enemy of God, of the Holy Spirit, of Christ Jesus, including the ‘church’ Christ Jesus births and keeps on birthing! Satan ‘loves’ to disguise himself and his hellish co-laborers called ‘demons’ because he’s out to literally crucify Christ but to nail His ‘children of faith’ to the same cross of cruel suffering!

But Jesus Christ IS our “more than conqueror” – He’s our Victorious Liberator over sin, over Satan, over death itself! William F. Sherwin wrote the song, “Sound the Battle Cry” found in The American Hymnal of 1933! It says:

Sound the battle cry! See, the foe is nigh; Raise the standard high For the Lord; Gird your armor on, Stand firm, every one; Rest your cause upon His holy word.

Strong to meet the foe, Marching on we go, While our cause we know, must prevail; Shield and banner bright, Gleaming in the light; Battling for the right We never can fail.

O! You God of all, Hear us when we call, help us one and all by Your grace; When the battle’s done, And the victory’s won, May we wear the crown Before Your face.

Rouse, then soldiers, rally round the banner, Ready, steady, pass the word along: Onward, forward, shout a loud Hosanna! Christ is Captain of the mighty throng.”

Are YOU strong in the grace of God? AND – Are YOU “a soldier of the Cross of Christ, yes, His spiritual army fighting the good fight of faith, and knowing your field of spiritual warfare,ready to daily show up warring against Christ’s enemies in the spiritual realm with the armor of the Word and the lead of the Holy Spirit ? Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3-15 the following words of encouragement saying,

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This IS a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (So, Paul warns “the wages of sin IS death”, even if you’re a consenting disciple in sinful participation!).

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Were YOU crucified with Christ? Have YOU repented and turned from your sin nature and its practices? Were you “enlisted” by the Spirit as a soldier in the Lord’s spiritual army? Tell me: Just how faithful does your heavenly report card reveal about your honorable walk as representative of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Are YOU “duty-ready”, having died with Christ, raised by the Holy Spirit, equipped by the Word and the Spirit, and, yes, daily fighting the good fight of faith in uplifting Him, honoring Him and His Word, His purpose for your life, and His desire to use YOU to free “the prisoners of sin, of Satan, of a dark world”, igniting in YOU the Light of His Glory?

CHAPTER TEN

“SPIRITUAL INSANITY OR SPIRITUAL REALITY?”

In Proverbs 16:9 we find man’s deceptive insanity and God’s eternal Truth. It says: “A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps.”

You do understand that there is eternal difference between self-educated men and men who “rest” in the revelation of the Word of God!?!

In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we read, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.” Is Holy God “delighted” in your ‘self-allegiance’ over “trusting and resting in the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s Cross and the Empty Tomb”, more delighted in self-determination than the Savior’s declaration and Heaven’s determination of Christ’s “blood sacrifice” over fallen humanity’s “best effort”??

Are you aware of how deep, wide, and broad spiritual insanity is in a large number of mankind’s deceived minds and hearts as to Biblical Truth? The wise man, again in Proverbs 9:10, wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Really? ‘The fear of the Lord?’ Many say without embarrassment, “I don’t fear God – I adore Him”, while they live in spiritual insanity doing as they ‘fleshly please’, unaware of spiritual consequences for their ‘religious, fleshly, worldly indulgences with no guilt, embarrassment, or conviction’ about the “holy life within” as they profess to follow while recklessly hold on to their ‘spiritual profession’, with no “fear of the Lord in hating evil”! (Proverbs 8:13).

I absolutely love the words of Proverbs 10:30 where the “wise man” wrote, “The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.” Are you truly aware that God has an eternal plan of His Kingdom on earth being eternally established? I grew up in a church who sang regularly, faithfully, and in full conviction, “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen!” Righteous never removed, but the wicked not inhabiting? The righteous never removed from the earth, (because Christ’s Kingdom is established in their hearts, while unbelievers ‘choose’ the world’s, the flesh’s, the devil’s eternal kingdom of separation from God and His chosen people?).

Joseph Parker once wrote (The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Fleming H. Revell Company, p.183), “Have no fear for the unsettlement or the disturbance of the Kingdom of heaven. It began in eternity, it will go on through everlasting; there is no panic in the divine personality. God IS peace, God gives peace, God gives rest.”

You do understand that there are kingdoms of self-centered men and self-centered, worldly establishments, that want a “fleshly paradise”, but only God’s Kingdom on earth becomes faithfully His “Paradise”!

I don’t know who wrote it, but I remember growing up singing in my “home church” the hymn that says: “His kingdom is coming: Oh, tell me the story! God’s banner exalted shall be; The earth shall be filled with His wonder and glory, As waters that cover the sea.”

The heart, mind, will, purpose of God is that your earthly life would become, by repentance and by redemptive faith, God’s eternal Paradise on earth, yes, eternally! Your eternal life “in Christ” is His eternal Kingdom being established on, in earth, as it is in Heaven? “In Christ” one is through Him bringing Heaven to earth with His ever, abiding Presence??!!

It was Phillips Brooks who once wrote: “Be such a man, and live such a life, That if every man were such as you, And every man a life like yours, This earth would be God’s Paradise.” Is your life an extension, expression, an interpretation of God’s Paradise?

Do you remember the Lord teaching His new disciples to pray in Matthew 6:7-13? Christ Jesus said: “But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.

After this manner therefore pray: ‘Our Father Who Is In Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil; for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” The kingdom, the power, the glory forever? On earth? Several Truths You Must “Rest in”!!

FIRST, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR EVERLASTING PROMISE OF A BLESSED LIFE! How necessary is the prophetic Word to your life in Christ?!? In Jeremiah 17:5-7 we read, “Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.”

In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, is a hymn written by Edward Mote and William Bradbury that says: “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the vale. His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before His throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.” Your life on the Solid Rock of Christ or is it on ‘sinking sand’?

SECOND, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR SOVEREIGN HEAD! In Colossians 2:9-10 the Holy Word tells us: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power…”!.

But YOU are simply satisfied with God’s forgiveness through Christ, but unavailable to prove His love, express His power, and extend HIS KINGDOM, because, forgiven, you’re now thankful you can continue in the life of yours that He carried with Him to the Cross, so you hold onto ‘self’ as your sovereign ruler? Where is that in the Word of God?

Is your spiritual walk paths you interpret for yourself or do you “live” by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God? In Matthew 4:4 we read, “But Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not LIVE by physical bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

THIRD, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR ETERNAL HEART! In Proverbs 28:26 we read, “He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered.” We know the Word is so clear and convicting and convincing when we read in Verse 13, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

Merit-minded men, intent on doing their own thing, even religiously, while still thinking they can’t do anything but sin even as a disciple of Christ, are men void of understanding of “Christ in you your only hope of glory.” In Romans 5 and 6 we learn that the grace of God is not fleshly grease allowing men to slide into heaven in their earthly, fleshly, demonic and satanic leanings, but the grace of God birthing “new lives” in and through the eternal heart of the crucified but resurrected Christ reigning NOW in His eternal spiritual Kingdom! Romans 5:1 2 tells us, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, AND REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” And Romans 5:10? “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (being) saved by His (resurrected, reigning) life.” GLORY!!

Oh, but glory in God even more because in Romans 6:17-18 we also are trained, informed, inspired, and, yes, amazed at our calling! “But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was (and presently IS) delivered to you. Being then MADE FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

And understanding that “Christ only IS your eternal heart”, you daily take the sentence of death to the “old self” that the resurrection life of Christ may literally, daily, be yielded to His Indwelling Presence!

FOURTH, CHRIST ONLY IS OUR STRONG HELP! I don’t know how any ‘believer’ can read Psalm 42 and not rejoice in continual Hallelujahs! David wrote, Psalm 42:5, 8, and 11, the following words: Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

Verse 8, Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

Verse 11, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Dare I ask? “How is the health of your countenance?” “IS CHRIST ONLY YOUR STRONG HELP?”

FIFTH, CHRIST ONLY IS THE HERALD OF LIFE’S BLESSING! Christ-less-ness is a curse, but “in Christ” is eternal blessing. Didn’t Jesus say, John 10:10, “I am come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly”?

How about “the river of God’s abundant pleasures”, Psalm 36:8? Or, beyond abundant life and pleasure, how about “the bank of God’s abundant grace”, 2 Corinthians 2:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that YOU, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work,” OR, “the reservoir of God’s abundant power, His ample supply, and His amazing entrance into His eternal Kingdom?

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”? OR,

The open door to amazing supplies that never run dry? Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by or in Christ Jesus”?

OR, His abundant entrance? 2 Peter 1:11, “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

SIXTH, CHRIST ONLY IS OUR PERPETUAL HAPPINESS AND JOY! Oh, how clear is Nehemiah 8:10? “The joy of the Lord is your strength”? Or Psalm 16:11? “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

Do YOU walk in perpetual happiness and joy? Do YOU walk in a state of ‘fleshly bliss’ or “Sovereign Blessing”? Is it ‘happiness attained in the best of human effort’ or is it the “Holy Estate of Heavenly Presence in the repentant rest of true Biblical Faith” that reveals Christ in you as your hope of glory?

Examine carefully Romans 4:1-5! “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh has found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory: BUT NOT BEFORE GOD. For what does the Holy Scriptures tell us?

Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto Him for righteousness. Now to him that works at it is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt? But to him that works not, but believes in, trusts in, relies upon, Him that JUSTIFIES the ungodly, that one’s faith is counted for righteousness.” That, my friend, is “Amazing Grace”!!

SEVENTH, CHRIST IN YOU IS THE ONLY DOOR INTO LIVING IN, BY, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD’S ABIDING PRESENCE! Follow carefully Colossians 2:6-10 and then Colossians 1:19-29!

Colossians 2:6-10 says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE IN CHRIST.” What IS that “completeness in Christ”? Colossians 1:19-29 is so inspired, so informative, so liberating. It says:

“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight:

If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not removed from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;

Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; WHICH IS ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily.” IS JESUS AT WORK IN YOU MIGHTILY?

EIGHTH, BECAUSE OF THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF YOUR ONENESS IN CHRIST, IS THE HISTORY OF YOUR ONENESS IN CHRIST THE RECOGNITION OF HISTORICALLY, PERSONALLY, INSPIRATIONALLY, DAILY CHOOSING DEATH TO YOUR OLD SELF SO THAT CHRIST IN YOUR NEW-BORN HEART IS ABLE TO EXTEND HIS LIFE, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, AND THROUGH YOU PROVE HIS POWER, TOUCHING THE WORLD THROUGH YOU WITH HIS NEVER-ENDING PRESENCE?

This walk in redemptive faith is not ‘trying’ but “trusting”, not ‘attempting’ but “allowing Him to be Himself in you and through you”, not ‘determining’ rationally what you choose to do as a disciple of Christ, but “depending upon Christ in you, Christ through you, Christ for you touching your world around you with His atoning power and amazing purpose!

For YOU, what is it? Spiritual insanity in “the best of human effort”, or is it the “spiritual reality of the new-born Life in Christ”? You do have a choice! “Choose you this day whom you will serve”, making yourself available to His Resurrected Presence! Amen?

I’ve paraphrased the old hymn “Saviour, Again” found in the old hymnal of Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, (1940). It says: “Savior, again to Your dear name we raise With one accord our parting hymn of praise; Once more we bless You ere our worship cease, Then, lowly kneeling, wait Your word of peace. (Is that “welcome to the Throne of Christ as your, truly, Lord and Savior”?).

A cloud of witnesses around Hold you in full survey; Forget the steps already trod, And onward urge God’s way, And onward urge God’s way.

It’s God’s all animating voice That calls you from on high; It’s His own hand presents the prize To your aspiring eye, To your aspiring eye.

Blest Savior, introduced by God, Have I my race begun; And, crowned with victory, (eternally!), at Your feet I’ll lay my honors down, I’ll lay my honors down.”

Examine Matthew 25:31-46! The day is coming when the King of glory, the Son of man, shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He shall sit upon the throne of His glory:

And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, (That’s the King of Heaven AND Earth!!): Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was hungered, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me.

Then shall the righteous (the sheep but not the goats!) answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you drink? When saw we you a stranger, and took you in? or naked, and clothed you? Or when saw we you sick, or in prison, and came unto you? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these me brethren, you have done it unto me.

Then shall he say unto them on the left hand (the goats), Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; For I was hungry, and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto you? Then Jesus answered them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”

Dare I ask? “Where are YOU headed? In whom or what have YOU “rested”? Finished with your old sin nature or finalized forever through repentance and faith in Him alone, “complete in Christ lacking nothing”?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“LESS & LESS OR MORE & MORE?”

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE ‘LESS AND LESS’ OF FALLEN HUMANITY WITHOUT FULL, SERIOUS, COMPLETE EXAMINATION OF GOD’S “MORE AND MORE”? THE ONE THING THE WORD OF GOD DECLARES WITHOUT WAVERING IS FOUND IN JOSHUA 24:15 WHEN JOSHUA SAID: “And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you shall serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorities, in whose land you dwell; BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.”

In Deuteronomy 30:19-20a, Moses declared, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; choose life, that both you and your seed may live (and that’s in the Abiding Presence of Christ, before the Throne of God, filled with the Holy Spirit who birthed your life through true repentance and faith!), that both you and your seed may live; That you (and yours!) may love the Lord your God, AND that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him (Is that “holding fast?), for He is your life, and the length of your earthly days…!” But! Look at the “Christ-less life” as it chooses ‘self’ over the “Savior”, ‘sin’ over the “Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”, ‘worldly pleasure, wandering from God pursuits’ over the Lord’s freedom-gift of “His Eternal Life & Presence”!

“LESS & LESS?” IN JOB 2:7-10 WE READ, “SO WENT SATAN FORTH FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD, SMOTE JOB WITH SORE BOILS FROM THE SOLE OF HIS FOOT UNTO THE CROWN. AND HE TOOK WITH HIM A POTSHARD TO SCRAPE HIMSELF ALL OVER; AND HE SAT DOWN WITH THE ASHES.

THEN SAID HIS WIFE UNTO HIM, “DO YOU STILL RETAIN YOUR INTEGRITY? CURSE GOD AND DIE.” BUT JOB SAID TO HIS WIFE, “YOU SPEAK AS ONE OF THE FOOLISH WOMEN SPEAKS. WHAT? SHALL WE RECEIVE GOOD AT THE HAND OF THE GOD, AND SHALL WE NOT RECEIVE EVIL? IN ALL THIS JOB DID NOT SIN WITH HIS LIPS.

“LESS &LESS OR MORE &MORE?” IN JOB 19:23-27 ARE FOUND MORE INSPIRING WORDS ABOUT THE “LESS & LESS OR THE MORE & MORE”: JOB SAID, “OH THAT MY WORDS WERE NOW WRITTEN! OH THAT THEY WERE PRINTED IN A BOOK! THAT THEY WERE GRAVEN WITH AN IRON PEN AND LEAD IN THE ROCK FOR EVER!

FOR I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES, AND THAT HE SHALL STAND AT THE LATTER DAY UPON THE EARTH; (AND KEEP ON STANDING THERE?): AND THOUGH AFTER MY SKIN WORMS DESTROY MY BODY, YET IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD.”

“LESS & LESS?” MANKIND WAS BIRTHED BY GOD IN HUMAN FORM, YES, WITH THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE! ADAM’S NATURE OR GOD’S NATURE? FLESH OR SPIRIT? WRONG OR RIGHT OR WRONG MINGLED IN WITH A TASTE OF RIGHT? SELF-EMPTINESS OR SOVEREIGN FULLNESS? A HELLISH, DEVILISH, DEMONIC WORLD’S BEST OR: “HEAVEN CAME DOWN AND GLORY FILLED YOUR SOUL”?

A GREAT OLD HYMN OF THE 1940’S IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL (P.357) SAYS: “ARE YOU TIRED OF THE LIFE YOU’RE NOW LIVING? ARE YOU WEARY OF SIN AND ITS SNARES? ARE YOU SEEKING FOR THAT WHICH IS LASTING? LOOK TO JESUS; YOU’LL FIND THAT HE CARES.

ARE YOU LONGING TO KNOW HIS FORGIVENESS? DO YOU YEARN TO BE FREE FROM ALL SIN? DOES YOUR LONELY HEART LEAP WHEN YOU WITNESS GOD’S WONDERFUL LOVE FOR ALL MEN?

LOOK TO JESUS THE BLESSED REDEEMER, GIVE YOUR HEART, AND YOUR ALL TO THE LORD; TO HIS OPEN ARMS RUN FOR SALVATION, HE HAS PROMISED IT ALL IN HIS WORD.

HE IS WATCHING, HE IS WAITING, HE IS LONGING YOUR SOUL TO SET FREE; WEARY ONE, GIVE YOUR HEART TO THE SAVIOR, LIVE WITH HIM THROUGH ALL ETERNITY.”

DO YOU KNOW, DO YOU UNDERSTAND, DO YOU COMPREHEND, THAT LIFE AFTER DEATH IS EITHER HELL OR HEAVEN, CONTINUING ‘FLESH-BONDAGE UNDER SATAN’S CONTROL’ OR “ETERNAL FREEDOM FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH”, BECAUSE YOU ARE, WERE, WILL NOW FOREVER BE FREE FROM THAT LAW OF SIN AND DEATH BECAUSE OF THE SHED BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD? LIFE NOW & LIFE AFTER DEATH IS EITHER ‘FLESH’ OR SPIRIT, HUMAN NATURE OR DIVINE NATURE FOREVER FLOWING THROUGH YOUR VEINS, MIND, AND HEART, WRONG NATURE OR RIGHT NATURE, SELF-EMPTINESS OR SOVEREIGN FULLNESS. AND YOU? YOUR ALL IN ALL OR CHRIST IN YOU YOUR ONLY HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE, ETERNAL BLESSING, ETERNAL PRESENCE, YES, ETERNAL BEFORE THE THRONE OF CHRIST JESUS WILLING TO DAILY BE HIS “FOOT-WASHER”?!!!?

AGAIN, IN JOSHUA 24:25-28, WE FIND POWERFULLY CONVICTING WORDS: “SO JOSHUA MADE A COVENANT WITH THE PEOPLE THAT DAY, AND SET THEM A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE IN SHECHEM. AND JOSHUA WROTE THESE WORDS IN “THE BOOK OF THE LAW OF GOD”, AND TOOK A GREAT STONE, AND SET IT UP THERE UNDER AN OAK, THAT WAS BY THE SANCTUARY OF THE LORD. SO JOSHUA SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, BEHOLD, THIS STONE SHALL BE A WITNESS UNTO US; FOR IT HAS HEARD ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD WHICH HE SPOKE UNTO US; IT SHALL BE THEREFORE A WITNESS UNTO YOU, UNLESS YOU DENY YOUR GOD. SO JOSHUA LET THE PEOPLE DEPART, EVERY MAN UNTO HIS INHERITANCE.”

“EVERY MAN UNTO HIS INHERITANCE”?“THIS STONE A WITNESS UNTO YOU”? GOD’S WORD CUT INTO A LARGE NATURAL STONE WRITTEN FOR MEN TO READ? AND YOUR INHERITANCE? SOME READ, SOME TRUSTED, SOME OBEYED, AND EXTENDED THE KINGDOM OF GOD THEN! BUT DO YOU KNOW GOD DECLARES IN HIS WORDS THE “NEW STONE” FOR MEN TO READ? IN LUKE 20:9-13 JESUS TELLS US ABOUT A MAN PLANTING A VINEYARD:

THEN BEGAN JESUS TO SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE THIS PARABLE: “A CERTAIN MAN PLANTED A VINEYARD, AND LET IT FORTH TO HUSBAND-MEN, AND WENT FORTH INTO A FAR COUNTRY FOR A LONG TIME. AND AT THE SEASON HE SENT A SERVANT TO HIS HUSBANDMEN, AND WENT INTO A FAR COUNTRY FOR A LONG TIME.

AND AT THE SEASON HE SENT A SERVANT TO THE HUSBANDMEN, THAT THEY SHOULD GIVE HIM OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINEYARD; BUT THE HUSBANDMEN BEAT HIM, AND SENT HIM AWAY EMPTY. AND AGAIN HE SENT ANOTHER SERVANT; AND THEY BEAT HIM ALSO, AND ENTREATED HIM SHAMEFULLY, AND SENT HIM AWAY EMPTY.

AND AGAIN HE SENT ANOTHER SERVANT; AND THEY BEAT HIM ALSO, AND ENTREATED HIM SHAMEFULLY, AND SENT HIM AWAY EMPTY. AND AGAIN HE SENT A THIRD; AND THEY WOUNDED HIM ALSO, AND CAST HIM OUT. THEN SAID THE LORD OF THE VINEYARD, WHAT SHALL I DO? I WILL SEND MY BELOVED SON; IT MAY BE THEY WILL REVERENCE HIM WHEN THEY SEE HIM.” DARE I ASK? WHO IS THE LORD OF THE VINEYARD? THAT’S ALMIGHTY, HOLY, PASSIONATE GOD OVERSEEING HIS WORLD OF LOST MANKIND, DEAD-FRUIT, WILLFUL SINNERS – AND BECAUSE HE’S THE GOD OF LOVE, MERCY, AND GRACE, WITH A FORGIVING HEART, HE SENDS HIS OWN SON TO BE THE SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SIN, THE SAVIOR FROM YOUR MISGUIDED, DECEIVED, SIN-BOUND, SATANIC-CONTROLLED MIND, BLACKENED HEART, AND A WORLDLY PERCEPTION AND DETERMINATION TO DO AS “FLESH, THE WORLD AROUND YOU, AND SATAN PROGRAMS YOU INTO!!!”

SATAN’S INTENT? SATAN’S INITIATIVE? DESTROY THE HEIRS OF FAITH! DESTROY THEIR SAVIOR AND LORD! DESTROY THE HOPE OF ETERNAL PURPOSE, OF HEAVENLY PLEASURE, OF THE PEACE OF GOD WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, BUT OVERFLOWS YOUR MIND AND HEART WITH THE REALITY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION-PRESENCE!! DESTROY ANY HOPE OF AN OVERCOMING LIFE OF THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, OR SATAN AND DEMONIC PRESENCE AND ACTIVITY! SATAN SAYS, “YOU’RE MINE TO DO IN YOUR FLESH WHAT HELL INTENDS, NOT HEAVEN OR WHAT A SO-CALLED ‘LORD AND SAVIOR’ SAYS!”

DARE I SAY IT? I BELIEVE I WILL! “YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE UNDER THE CLOUD OF SATANIC DECEPTION ANY LONGER!!” THERE IS THE REALITY, THE ETERNAL TRUTH, THE BLESSED ASSURANCE, THAT IN CHRIST JESUS YOU CAN BE “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR” OVER THE WORLD-SPIRIT, OVER THE SIN-NATURE DISEASE, AND THE ‘DIS-EASE’ OF WORLDLINESS, OF A SIN-BOUND MIND AND HEART, AND SATANIC-PRETENSE!

IN ROMANS 8:8-14 WE READ, “SO THEN THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD. BUT YOU ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF SO BE THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU. NOW IF ANY MAN DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS. AND IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, THE BODY IS DEAD, BECAUSE OF SIN; BUT THE SPIRIT IS LIFE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. (IF THE SPIRIT IS LIFE IN YOU BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, DOES THAT MEAN AS A NEW, TRUE BELIEVER IT’S “OK!” IF I SIN NOW AND THEN AS I PLEASE?).

BUT IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS FROM THE DEAD DWELL IN YOU, HE THAT RAISED UP CHRIST FROM THE DEAD SHALL ALSO QUICKEN (MAKE ALIVE HIMSELF IN YOU!) YOUR MORTAL BODIES BY HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLS IN YOU. THEREFORE, BRETHREN, WE ARE DEBTORS, NOT TO THE FLESH (YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE!), TO LIVE AFTER THE FLESH.

FOR IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE; BUT IF YOU THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU SHALL LIVE. FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD.”

LESS & LESS OR MORE & MORE? IT IS A CHOICE YOU MAKE! “BEST EFFORT OR SOVEREIGN BLESSING?” THE INTELLECTUAL MIND-SET OF SELF-DETERMINATION OR THE HEART AND MIND WASHED CLEAN THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD BY THE CONVICTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE BIRTH IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN GUIDING YOU INTO THE REALITY OF THE GIFT OF ABIDING TRUTH, EVEN CHRIST JESUS EXPRESSING HIMSELF IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE AGAINST SATAN AND HIS DEMON FORCES THROUGH YOU AS YOU REJOICE WITNESSING JESUS BEING JESUS, SAVIOR AND LORD, AND KING AND SOVEREIGN OVER SATAN, YOUR OLD WORLD ALLEGIANCE, AND YOUR WARPED, GODLESS ALLEGIANCE TO YOUR “CHURCH” THAT MOSTLY ‘PRETENDS’, EVEN UPSET IF YOU ASSERT LOYALTY TO THE INDWELLING CHRIST BUT NOT LOYALTY TO THEIR ‘CHURCH OF IMITATION’!

IN REVELATION 7:9-17 WE READ ABOUT THE “SEALED SERVANTS OF GOD’’! “AFTER THIS I BEHELD, AND, LO, A GREAT MULTITUDE, WHICH NO MAN COULD NUMBER, OF ALL NATIONS, AND KINDREDS, AND PEOPLE, AND TONGUES, STOOD BEFORE THE THRONE, AND BEFORE THE LAMB, CLOTHED WITH WHITE ROBES, AND PALMS IN THEIR HANDS;

AND CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE, SAYING, SALVATION TO OUR GOD WHO SITS UPON THE THRONE, AND UNTO THE LAMB. AND ALL THE ANGELS STOOD ROUND ABOUT THE THRONE, AND ABOUT THE ELDERS AND THE FOUR BEASTS, AND FELL BEFORE THE THRONE ON THEIR FACES, AND WORSHIPPED GOD. SAYING, AMEN: BLESSING, AND GLORY, AND WISDOM, AND THANKSGIVING, AND HONOR, AND POWER, AND MIGHT, BE UNTO OUR GOD FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN. AND ONE OF THE ELDERS ANSWERED, SAYING UNTO ME, WHAT ARE THESE WHICH ARE ARRAYED IN WHITE ROBES? AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

AND I SAID UNTO HIM, SIR, YOU KNOW. AND HE SAID TO ME, THESE ARE THEY WHICH CAME OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION, AND HAVE WASHED THEIR ROBES, AND MADE THEM WHITE IN & THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. THEREFORE ARE THEY BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD, AND SERVE HIM DAY AND NIGHT IN HIS TEMPLE: AND HE THAT SITS ON THE THRONE SHALL DWELL AMONG THEM.

THEY SHALL HUNGER NO MORE, NEITHER THIRST ANY MORE; NEITHER SHALL THE SUN LIGHT ON THEM, NOR ANY HEAT. FOR THE LAMB WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONE SHALL FEED THEM, AND SHALL LEAD THEM UNTO LIVING FOUNTAINS OF WATERS; AND GOD SHALL WIPE AWAY ALL TEARS FROM THEIR LIVES.”

“LESS AND LESS OR MORE AND MORE?” DO YOU WALK ‘LESS AND LESS’ IN WILLFUL CONDEMNATION AND SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS BECAUSE YOU’VE ASSURED YOURSELF THAT HOLY GOD WILL BE PLEASED WITH YOUR “BEST EFFORT” OR THAT YOU “JOINED A CHURCH” OR THAT YOU ‘TRY HARD TO DO THE RIGHT THING’?

PLEASE COME WITH ME TO ROMANS 8 EXAMINING CAREFULLY VERSES 1-10! “THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH (THAT MEANS “STILL IN LOVE WITH YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE!”), BUT YOU WALK IN AND AFTER THE HOLY SPIRIT. FOR THE LAW OF “THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS” HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH ( THE FLESH? IS THAT THE OLD MAN BIRTHED INTO PHYSICAL LIFE WITH THE CHOICE OF SELF-ALLEGIANCE OR THE CHOICE OF THE NEED OF GOD IN THEM?);

THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE ‘FLESH’ (OR ALLEGIANCE AND DEVOTION IN SATISFYING THE CONDEMNED ‘SIN NATURE’!), BUT THEY WALK AFTER, IN, BY, GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE FLESH DO MIND (ATTEND TO) THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE SPIRIT THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. FOR TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE. BECAUSE THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD; FOR IT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE. SO THEN THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD. BUT YOU ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF SO BE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU. NOW IF ANY MAN DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS CHILDREN. AND IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, THE BODY IS DEAD, BECAUSE OF SIN; BUT THE SPIRIT IS LIFE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

FROM THE “BREAKFRONT DAILY” FROM THE COLSON CENTER, THERE WAS A WRITING ON “ACADEMIC AND CORPORATE ‘WOKENESS’: THE REAL THREAT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.” (IT WAS RECORDED BY JOHN STONESTREET WITH ROBERTA RIVERA.) IN IT THEY WROTE THE FOLLOWING: (A PORTION ONLY!) “THE SOUND YOU HEAR IS DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS SLAMMING SHUT EVERYWHERE. BASICALLY, ANY ORGANIZATION THAT RUNS AFOUL OF THE NEW SEXUAL ORTHODOXY THAT’S DRIVING THIS NEW POLICY WILL FIND IT MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT YALE LAW SCHOOL GRADS; AND THOSE GRADS WHOSE MOTIVATIONS RUN TOWARD NON-PROFIT OR PUBLIC SERVICE WILL FIND THEIR CHOICES SIGNIFICANTLY NARROWED.

YALES’ BLATANT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IS AN IMPORTANT REMINDER OF WHERE THE GREATEST CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CURRENTLY LIES IN OUR CULTURE. AS DAVID FRENCH WROTE AT NATIONAL REVIEW, ONE OF ‘THE PRIME SOURCES OF [CULTURE WAR] CONFLICT IS THE INCREASING TENDENCY TO USE THE FINANCIAL AND CULTURAL POWER OF PROGRESSIVE INSTITUTIONS TO FORCE SOCIAL CHANGE REGARDLESS OF THE UNDERLYING MISSION OF THE INSTITUTION.”

AND I SAY TO YOU, “UNLESS THERE IS A SECOND, A THIRD, A FORTH, A FIFTH, “GREAT AWAKENING”, MAYBE EVEN MORE, OUR NATION WILL BECOME MORE AND MORE, MAYBE, FINANCIALLY RICHER, BUT PROBABLY BARREN OF THE LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY OF HOLY GOD! SHUT THE DOOR ON GOD? AND HE’LL SHUT THE DOOR ON YOU!!” BUT, IN JOHN 7:37, JESUS SAID, “IF ANYONE THIRSTS (FOR GOD?), LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK.”(NKJV EDITION).

LET ME SHARE THIS MESSAGE FROM PSALM 97 EXALTING THE MAJESTY OF GOD’S REIGN IN THE HUMAN HEART ADVANCING HIS KINGDOM THROUGH THEM: “THE LORD REIGNS: LET THE MULTITUDE OF ISLES BE GLAD THEREOF (BECAUSE OF IT!). CLOUDS AND DARKNESS ARE ROUND ABOUT HIM: RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUDGMENT ARE THE HABITATION OF HIS THRONE.

A FIRE GOES BEFORE HIM, AND BURNS UP HIS ENEMIES ROUND ABOUT. HIS LIGHTNINGS ENLIGHTENED THE WORLD: THE EARTH SAW, AND TREMBLED. THE HILLS MELTED LIKE WAX AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD OF THE WHOLE EARTH. THE HEAVENS DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THE PEOPLE SEE HIS GLORY. CONFOUNDED BE ALL THEY THAT SERVE GRAVEN IMAGES, THAT BOAST THEMSELVES OF IDOLS: WORSHIP HIM, ALL YOU GODS.

ZION HEARD, AND WAS GLAD; AND THE DAUGHTERS OF JUDAH REJOICED BECAUSE OF YOUR JUDGMENTS, O LORD. FOR YOU, LORD, ARE HIGH ABOVE ALL THE EARTH: YOU ARE EXALTED FAR ABOVE ALL GODS. YOU THAT LOVE THE LORD, HATE EVIL; HE PRESERVES THE SOULS OF HIS SAINTS (THE “SET-APART ONES”?); HE DELIVERS THEM OUT OF THE HAND OF THE WICKED. LIGHT IS SOWN FOR THE RIGHTEOUS, AND GLADNESS FOR THE UPRIGHT IN HEART. REJOICE IN THE LORD, YOU RIGHTEOUS ONES; AND GIVE THANKS AT THE REMEMBRANCE OF HIS HOLINESS.” WHEN I COME TO HEBREWS 9:14, I REJOICE IN THE “HALLELUJAH TRUTH”! “HOW MUCH MORE SHALL THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, WHO THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT OFFERED HIMSELF WITHOUT SPOT TO GOD (JESUS WAS YOUR SIN OFFERING!!), PURGING YOUR CONSCIENCE FROM ‘DEAD WORKS’ TO SERVE THE LIVING GOD.”

ARE “YOU” RE-BORN? HAVE YOU BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM A CHILD OF DARKNESS TO THE CHILD OF ETERNAL LIGHT BECAUSE OF YOUR REPENTANCE, YOUR SAVING FAITH, AND YOUR DESIRE TO DAILY HONOR HIM WHEREVER YOU GO AND IN WHATEVER YOU DO? HEAR ME! CHRIST JESUS “IS” RESURRECTION PRESENCE, RESURRECTION POWER, RESURRECTION PRIVILEGE, ARRIVING, ABIDING, ASKING, EVEN PLEADING: “OPEN YOUR HEART’S DOOR, AND I WILL COME IN.”

CHRIST BLED – SO HE PLEADS, HE KNOCKS ON YOUR HEARTS’ DOORS, COMPASSIONATELY SAYING, “SIN NO LONGER IS TO BE YOUR MASTER ANYMORE. MY BLOOD I’VE SHED, YOUR BOOK OF LIFE I’VE READ – AND MY SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SIN?” FOR CHRIST JESUS, IT’S AS IF YOUR SIN HAD NEVER BEEN!! (ARE YOU A REJOICING, THANKFUL, CELEBRATING SON AND DAUGHTER OF GOD, OR ARE YOU “TUNED IN” TO ALL THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, AND SATAN HIMSELF HAS TO DECEIVE YOU? WHY NOT, RIGHT NOW, ACCEPT YOUR CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST TO DO AWAY WITH YOUR OLD SELF, BEING “RAISED UP IN THE NEWNESS OF HIS EVERLASTING LIFE AND PRESENCE” TO LEAD YOU THROUGH THE DARK SHADOWS OF EARTHLY EXISTENCE INTO THE PRESENT FULLNESS OF HIS FOREVER REIGN? YOUR DAY – GOD’S TIME?

CHAPTER TWELVE

“FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE OR THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?”

THE AMAZING “CREATION OF GOD” OF BOTH THE BEAUTIFUL WORLD,PLANETS,STARS,PLUS BIRTHING OF FLESHLY HUMANITY WITH “FREE WILL” TO CHOOSE WHETHER TO SERVE GOD OR NOT, IS TRULY, BOTH SAD AND GLAD – SAD, BECAUSE SOME “FREE-WILL MEN AND WOMEN” CHOSE THE PATH OF “ME, MY, AND MIND” RATHER THAN THE PERFECT, PERFECTING, PRECIOUS PRIVILEGE OF THE WINSOMENESS, THE WILL, THE “WORD”, AND THE WAYS OF HOLY GOD!

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE, IN CHOOSING SELF-WILL FOR SELF-PLEASURE, (FROM A NATURAL MIND AND NATURAL HEART!), WERE “BIRTHED”- ‘BRAIN-DEAD’, ‘FLESH-DEFILED’,‘HEART-DARKENED’,AND WILLFULLY ‘DELIRIOUS’, WITH THE ENEMY OF MANKIND, SATAN, ‘DEMONSTRABLY ACTIVE’ IN ‘DECEIVING MANKIND’, SAYING, “IF YOU SIN, DISOBEY, OR DEFY GOD, YOU WON’T DIE”, WHILE THE SPIRIT OF HOLY GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, CONVICTS YOU, SAYING, IN JOSHUA 24:15,“AND IF IT SEEMS EVIL UNTO YOU TO SERVE THE LORD,CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE; WHETHER THE ‘gods’ WHICH YOUR FATHERS SERVED,OR THE ‘gods of self-willed peoples’, IN WHOSE LAND YOU DWELL;BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.” (AND THE REWARD ‘of self-willed peoples’? ROMANS 6:23, “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH” –NATURALLY & ETERNALLY, IF THERE’S NO REPENTANCE, BELIEF, TRUST, & YIELDEDNESS TO THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!).

NATURAL MANKIND BIRTHS NATURAL CHILDREN, AND WHETHER NATURAL MANKIND OR NATURAL CHILDREN, BOTH MUST KNOW TRUE REPENTANCE BEFORE HOLY GOD, AND FULLY AWARE THAT REPENTANCE WITH TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH, GIVES BIRTH WITHIN TO PURE HEARTS WASHED CLEAN BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, AND THEN THE ETERNAL BLESSING OF HIS PRESENCE, (CHRIST JESUS!), ENTERING THEIR HEARTS, MAKING THE HEART THE TABERNACLE OF HIS ETERNAL DWELLING, HIS ABIDING,EARTHLY RESIDENCE,AND,YES,THE “THRONE” BEING YOUR HEART AND LIFE THROUGH WHICH YOU ALLOW KING JESUS TO AGAIN GRANT EARTHLY PRESENCE, SOVEREIGN RULE, AND MERCIFUL OUTREACH TO YOU & THROUGH YOU TO OTHERS WHO NEED “BLOOD REDEMPTION” & “RECONCILIATION” WITH HOLY GOD, THEIR, YES, LOVING FATHER! AND UPON CONVERSION, FROM THAT DEATH FORWARD, ALL BELIEVERS ARE TO BE HIS “WITNESSING ARMY” TO SHARE “HIS TRUTH OF THE REALITY OF NEW BIRTH” TO ANY EARTHLY RESIDENT AROUND YOU!

(BUT THE SAD TRUTH? MOST CHURCHES AND PREACHERS AROUND YOU ARE ‘DEVOTED TO GOOD SUNDAY MORNING CLASSES & MESSAGES’ WITHOUT A PENNY’S WORTH OF CONCERN OR COMPASSION FOR THE LOST CITIZENS LOCALLY OR NATIONALLY OR NATIONS THAT SURROUND THEIR BORDERS, OR NATIONS OVERSEAS!)

MY GREATEST CONCERN TODAY, JUST A FEW WEEKS BEFORE MY 83^RD BIRTHDAY ON JUNE 12, 2019? THAT TOO MANY CHURCHES, TOO MANY PASTORS, TOO MANY MEMBERS, TOO MANY DENOMINATIONAL LEADERS, ARE GROWING “SO FAT” ON CHRISTIAN NEWS OF SATISFIED ‘TO BE CHURCH MEMBERS’, THAT THEY WILLFULLY BLIND THEMSELVES OF BEING TOOLS IN GOD’S HANDS TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, OR PROVE HIS POWER!

THE PSALMIST,KING DAVID, IN PSALM 8:4-9, WROTE: “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU, GOD, ARE MINDFUL OF HIM?AND THE SON OF MAN,(KING JESUS), THAT YOU VISIT HIM? BUT YOU BIRTHED “HIM” A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, AND HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR.YOU,GOD, MADE HIM (CHRIST JESUS!) TO HAVE DOMINION OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET:ALL SHEEP AND OXEN,YES,AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD; THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND WHATSOEVER PASSES THROUGH THE PATHS OF THE SEAS. O LORD OUR LORD, HOW EXCELLENT IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH.”

‘FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE?’ ‘FALLEN HUMANITY’S SIRITUAL BLINDNESS? FALLEN HUMANITY’S SHAME OF SELF-WILL OR SELF-GOVERNMENT? FALLEN HUMANITY’S HARDNESS OF HEART BECAUSE OF THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN?FALLEN HUMANITY’S STUPIDITY IN BOWING TO THE FOREFATHERS WHO SOUGHT ONLY TO BE SELF-RELIANT AS THEIR OWN SELF-INSTITUED ‘master’, ‘ruler,’ and ‘savior’ lifestyle and explanation of ‘good living’ rather than “GOD-BIRTHED, GOD-BLESSED, GOD-ANOINTED LIFE-IN-CHRIST JESUS”?

ACROSS THE ‘CHRISTIAN WORLD’,YES, WORLDWIDE, MY GREATEST CONCERN TODAY FOR THE DAYS BEFORE US? DAYS THAT SHOULD BE DAYS THROUGH US WHICH GOD THE FATHER USES TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, AND PROVE HIS POWER, BUT,”SADLY” MUCH OF ‘PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY, PROFESSING CHURCHES, PROFESSING LEADERS’, LIVE UNDER, SERVE UNDER, PLAN UNDER, PROVIDE UNDER, PERFORM UNDER, ‘RELIGIOUS PLANS’ RATHER THAN “HOLY-SPIRIT-POWER AND ANOINTING AND INSPIRING” THE, YES, SPIRITUAL PLANTING, TENDING, AND HARVESTING OF THE FRUIT OF MEN’S LOST, SEPARATED SOULS, TO BECOME SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF TRUE FAITH EXPERIENCING DIVINE, DRAMATIC CONVERSIONS THAT SIT TO EAT AROUND HIS TABLE (HIS HOLY WORD!), AND SERVE IN HIS FIELDS FOR NEEDY, SIN-SICK, SATAN-DELUDED SOULS”!

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURES? LOOKING IN, THEY ONLY SEE THE NATURAL, THE EARTHLY, THE FLESHLY, THE ‘LESS OF WHAT THEY ‘WANT’ AND NOT WHAT LOVING GOD PLANNED’, THE SHALLOWNESS OF WHAT ‘SIN-NATURE’ WANTS AND NOT THE “DEEP WATERS” OF GOD’S GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE, THE ‘SOULISH’ SATISFACTION OF ‘SELF-INDULGENCE’ THAT DROWNS THEM IN THE SHALLOW WATERS OF FLESHLY INDULGENCES, WORLDLY,WILD PLEASURES, AND SATANIC & DEMONIC, HELL-BOUND SCHEMES AND ‘WILD DREAMS’!

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURES? “CROWN ‘YOU’ (ME,US- THE ONLY ONES WHO NEED TO REIGN!” “BE ‘FALLEN WORLD’S PARTNER’ UNITING WITH WHATEVER BLINDS YOU SPIRITUALLY WHEN YOU WALK ‘HERE’! BE ‘NOBLE’ IN THE WORLD “YOU” CHOOSE; AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO KNEEL BEFORE A ‘god’ TO SUCCEED–you’re your own man!”

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURES? “SATISFIED WITH SOULISH LIVING, SATISFIED WITH SELF-WILL, SATISFIED WITH EARTHLY,MAN-INSPIRED EDUCATION APART FROM HOLY GOD’S INSPIRATION,SATISFIED IN THIS FLESH-LIFE AND MY SELF-INDEPENDENT-DETERMINATION TO MAKE IT HERE WITHOUT ‘YOUR GOD’S HELP’; ‘I, MY PERSONAL, MY ‘GLORIFED’,STOIC SELF, DO NOT NEED YOUR SAVIOR!”THAT’S LIKE A STATEMENT I READ SIMILAR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”,(P.396, PUBLISHED BY FLEMING H.REVELL COMPANY, WESTWOOD,NJ),THAT SAID: “GOD HELPS THOSE THAT HELP THEMSELVES.” A THOUSAND TIMES, “NO!” GOD HELPS THOSE FINISHED WITH THEMSELVES, BECAUSE THE “OLD MAN” CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON THE CROSS, IS NOT TO HAVE EVEN A FRACTION OF AN INCH IN THEM OF “TRYING” TO BE SAVED, BUT, YES, “RESTING IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK ON THE TOMB OF THE HISTORIC CROSS, AND THOUGH DEAD IN A TOMB THREE DAYS, GOD RAISED HIM!”

AND GOD “RAISES YOU” IF YOU REPENT! GOD “RAISES YOU” IF YOU ‘REST’! GOD “RAISES” YOU WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED WITH YOUR OLD MAN AND OLD NATURE AND SATANIC DECEPTION! FINISHED IF YOU’RE “FINISHED” WITH MAN-INSPIRED DREAMS AND VISIONS, AND “READY” FOR THE CHRIST IN YOU TO CONTINUE HIS ETERNAL EARTH-JOURNEY TO TOUCH OTHERS WITH HIS PROMISES AND HIS ETERNAL WORK BY HIS PRESENCE IN YOUR HEART & LIFE LITERALLY!! “CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY”!!!!****

HAVE “YOU” CLOSED THE DOOR ON FALLEN HUMANITY’S FLESHLY DREAMS AND “RESTED” IN “THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?”

I CHALLENGE YOU THIS VERY MOMENT AS YOU READ: “REST IN”, “WILLFULLY RELAX”, “WISELY REPENT”, AND IN “HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTED HEART, MIND, AND WILL OF GOD”, WHY NOT, YES, SIMPLY “TRUST AND OBEY”? IN JAMES 1 THE BROTHER OF JESUS WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, VERSE 18, (GET READY! DON’T BE DECEIVED!!), “OF HIS OWN WILL GOD BIRTHED US WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH…”, WITH SIMON PETER TELLING US IN 1 PETER 1:2-5, “ELECT ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, ( PAUSE! DID IT SAY: “FOREKNOWLEDGE”? YOU MEAN BEFORE HUMANITY EVER EXISTED, GOD KNEW WHO, HOW MANY, HE THEN “YES”, SOVEREIGNLY CHOSE THEM TO BE HIS HEAVENLY FAMILY OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS THROUGH THEIR GIFT OF FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT CALVARY AND THROUGH HIS EMPTY-TOMB RESURRECTION, HIS ASCENSION, AND HIS HEAVENLY REIGN! BEFORE CREATION GOD THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT CHOSE THE “FAMILY OF FAITH” AND SAW TO IT THAT THEY WERE, ARE, AND WILL BE “BORN AGAIN”, ADOPTED INTO THE HOLY FAMILY, HAVING BEEN “RECONCILED THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS AND HIS RESURRECTION, ASCENDING TO THE RIGHT HAND THRONE OF GOD TO WATCH AFTER GOD’S PRE-ORDAINED, ETERNALLY PROGRAMED SPIRITUAL BIRTHS, AND AFTER A LIFE OF EARTHLY SERVICE, UPON THEIR SPIRITUAL DEATHS, HE “CALLS THEM HOME” TO THE THRONE-ROOM, WHERE AT THE THRONE THEY’RE WELCOMED BY KING JESUS, AND, YES, GIVES ALL SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF “BORN-AGAIN FAITH” TO BE HIS FOOTWASHERS, SERVANTS, TABERNACLE-TENDERS, CHOIR SINGERS – A BLESSED, ETERNAL, THRILLED FAMILY OF NEVER-DYING, NEVER-ENDING MINISTRY TO THE “LORD OF GLORY”!

OH, BACK TO 1 PETER 1, VERSE 2A, “ELECT…”, BUT NOTICE ALSO 2B, THERE’S “SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT (THE HOLY SPIRIT) UNTO OBEDIENCE, AND SPRINKLING OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST”..FOR GRACE THROUGH YOU TO BE MULTIPLIED!!”

Verse 3 EXPLAINS: “BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHICH ACCORDING TO HIS ABUNDANT MERCY HAS BEGOTTEN US AGAIN UNTO A LIVING HOPE BY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD, VERSE 4, TO AN INHERITANCE, INCORRUPTIBLE, AND UNDEFILED, AND THAT FADES NOT AWAY, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU, VERSE 5,‘WHO ARE KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD THROUGH FAITH (OR TRUST) UNTO SALVATION, READY TO BE REVEALED IN THE LAST DAYS.”

IF CHRIST JESUS SAID ON THE CROSS RIGHT BEFORE HE DIED: “IT IS FINISHED!”, I TELL YOU, SUMMED UP IN THE STATEMENT OF JESUS IS THE DETERMINATION OF THE ‘WHO’ WILL BE SAVED, AND THE GUARANTEE THAT HIS WORK “FOR THEM” IS OVER! ON THE CROSS, BEFORE, IN HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY, BEFORE MANKIND WAS EVER CREATED, JESUS KNEW WHO, WHERE, AND WHEN THEY’D BE BORN, THEN RE-BIRTHED SPIRITUALLY THROUGH HIS MERCY AND LOVE, SERVED HIM FAITHFULLY, AND THEN, UPON EARTHLY DEATH, READY TO BE RAISED CELEBRATING HIM AND HIS ETERNAL “KINGDOM OF GOD REIGN” IN HEAVEN AS HE DID ON EARTH!

“THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?” THAT’S WHO GOD IS;THAT’S WHAT FLOWS IN YOU AND AROUND YOU; IT’S WHAT “HE DOES” IN CHOOSING YOU, AND IN CALLING YOU, AND IN CONVERTING YOU, AND COMPASSIONATELY INDWELLING YOU; AND BECAUSE YOU RESPOND TO HIS PRESENCE, YOU CHOOSE DAILY TO YOUR ‘OLD MAN’, YOUR ‘OLD SIN-NATURE’, DEATH TO IT & YOURSELF, THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE AND SPIRIT OF CHRIST MAY HIMSELF FLOW FREELY, FULLY, AND FAITHFULLY THROUGH YOU DAILY! & YOU LIVE SINGING:

“EVERY DAY I LIVE IN HIS GLORY, EVERY DAY I SHARE HIS STORY: ‘GOD REDEEMS BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB’, NEW CREATIONS REJOICE AS A CHOIR, LOUDLY SINGING: ‘IT’S IN ME CHRIST JESUS’ HOUR; PURCHASED BY HIS BLOOD, RE-BORN IN HIS FLOOD, A REPENTANT MEN NOW SHARES HIS LIFE & HIS MISSION, FULLY FORGIVEN, AMAZINGLY ASSURED: CHRIST MY SAVIOR IS NOW MY LORD”.

WALK IN OBEDIENCE YOUR LORD TO PLEASE, KNOWING LIFE IN HIM IS NO LONGER YOUR DISEASE, BUT A LIFE OF PEACE FREED FROM DISTRESS, BECAUSE IN JESUS YOU SHARE IN HIS ETERNAL REST; NO LONGER SHAMED IN SIN AND UNBELIEF, BY FAITH IN CHRIST’S SACRIFICE, I’VE BECOME HIS DELIGHT! “CHRIST IN ME MY HOPE OF GLORY, CHRIST THROUGH ME MY WORLD’S REDEMPTION STORY. POWERED BY THE SPIRIT AND AWAKENED TO MEN’S “LOST”, I GLADLY SHARE JESUS AT ANY COST.

IN CHRIST OUR “NEW LIFE” GLOWS, AND FREED IN THE SPIRIT GOD’S WORD NOW FLOWS! IT’S THE SEED OF HIS WORD PRODUCING FRUIT, EVEN “NEW-BORN LIVES” AS HIS GREAT DELIGHT! FROM THE GRAVE OF SIN AND DEATH, FROM THE LIES OF RICHES IN ‘FLESH’S WEALTH’, THE TRUTH OF GOD’S MERCY AND GRACE FULLY ABIDE, AS A REPENTANT HEART FAITHS ONLY: “I WANT TO BE ON GOD’S SIDE!”

SO I DIE TO MY SIN, I REST IN HIS GRACE, AND AMAZINGLY SEE, “I’M NOW PART OF HEAVEN’S RACE, EXTENDING HIS LIFE, EXPRESSING HIS LOVE, UNVEILING HIS PRESENCE, I’M LIKE A HEAVENLY DOVE!” I REJOICE IN MY SAVIOR, I REST IN HIS LOVE; I’VE BEEN RAISED UP, SEATED ABOVE! ABOVE SIN AND DEATH, I GLOW IN HIS GLORY, AS LOVINGLY I SHARE REDEMPTION’S STORY; “I AM HIS, AND HE IS MINE, AND IN HIS ABIDING I SHINE.”

IN MATTHEW 16:24 JESUS SAID: “IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME, LET HIM TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME!” ARE “YOU” FOLLOWING? ARE “YOU” SHARING REDEMPTION’S STORY? DOES YOUR LIFE “GLOW” WITH HEAVEN’S GLORY? I TELL YOU: “SELF-DENIAL” TO SHARE GOD’S GLORY IS NOT AN INCLINATION BUT THE “REVELATION” AND INSPIRATION OF DISCIPLESHIP DUTY, OVERFLOWING FROM THE REALITY OF CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST TO THE REVELATION OF RESURRECTION LIFE IN CHRIST, RAISED UP, IN-FILLED, AND OVERFLOWING WITH HIS HOLY PRESENCE TO BE HIMSELF, TOUCHING MEN AROUND YOU WITH HIS “GREATER LOVE”, HIS “HEAVENLY GLORY”, AND A “NEW LIFE” WILLING TO SHARE HIS STORY! ARE YOU “NEW IN CHRIST WITH THE GREATER LOVE WHICH SHARES HIS STORY”? THAT’S HEAVEN’S LOVE FOR LOST MEN’S EARTHLY NOTHINGNESS THAT HONORS GOD IN THEM, EXCEPT “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, BURIED IN HIS TOMB, BUT RAISED IN 3 DAYS IN ETERNAL GLORY”! IS THAT “YOUR STORY”?

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE OR “THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST OR THE DOOR TO GOD’S ETERNAL GOODNESS?”

IT WAS AN ANONYMOUS WRITER THAT YEARS AND YEARS AGO WROTE THE FOLLOWING: “SOME DAY THE BELL WILL SOUND, SOME DAY MY HEART WILL BOUND, AS WITH A SHOUT THAT SCHOOL IS OUT AND LESSONS DONE, I HOMEWARD RUN.” WHEN I READ THAT COMMENT, I HAD TO ASK, “HOMEWARD BOUND TO WHERE? TO ‘NO-MAN’S LAND’?” TO SOME FLESHLY DREAM-WORLD, AFTER LIFE IS OVER THAT ONE ENVISIONS FOR HIMSELF, OR TO AN UNCERTAIN DESTINATION, OR THE CERTAIN DESTINATION OF A GRAVE-SIGHT, AND THERE IS NO MORE”?

ANOTHER STATEMENT I READ ONCE SOMEWHERE, WRITING DOWN ONLY THE WORDS, BUT WHAT I READ STIRRED SOMETHING IN MY HEART AND MIND TO TRULY EXAMINE ‘DEATH’S REALITY’! THOSE WORDS? “SOME DIE WITHOUT HAVING REALLY LIVED, WHILE OTHERS CONTINUE TO LIVE, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE DIED.”

GODLESS LIVING,WHETHER THE DECEPTION OF AN ATHEISTIC MIND OR THE DESIRE AND MIND AND HEART OF SELF-WILL, SELF-PLEASURE, AND SELF-GOVERNING,LIKE PSALM 14 THAT DAVID SANG ABOUT: “THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART, ‘THERE IS NO GOD’. THEY ARE CORRUPT, THEY HAVE DONE ABOMINABLE WORKS, THERE IS NONE THAT DOES GOOD, (WHICH I’M SURE IS GOD’S ANOINTING OF DAVID IN EXPOSING THE FUTILITY OF ‘SELF-DETERMINATION’, ASSERTING, “WHO NEEDS GOD?”) CONTINUING DAVID SANG:

THE LORD LOOKED DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE CHILDREN OF MEN, TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY THAT DID UNDERSTAND, AND SEEK GOD. (BUT),VERSE 3, “THEY ARE ALL GONE ASIDE, THEY ARE ALL TOGETHER BECOME FILTHY: THERE IS NONE THAT DOES GOOD, NO, NOT ONE. VERSE 4, HAVE ALL THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY NO KNOWLEDGE? WHO EAT UP MY PEOPLE AS THEY EAT BREAD, AND CALL NOT UPON THE LORD?”

NOTICE THAT DAVID SANG PUBLICLY, ANOINTED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SAYING, “WORKERS OF INIQUITY WITH NO KNOWLEDGE”? WHAT DOES PAUL DECLARE, ALSO ANOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHEN IN ROMANS 3:23, HE SAID, “FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” SIN, THE SIN-NATURE, SIN, THE DEVILISH DECEIT OF SATAN HIMSELF, SIN, THE BIRTHING IN GODLESS HEARTS OF ALIENATION AND SEPARATION FROM HOLY GOD, SIN, THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF SELF-WILL, SELF-PLEASURE, SELF-DETERMINATION “WITHOUT GOD’S INTERFERENCE IN MY SELF-SERVING LIFE”, HUMANITY’S ‘DEATH-NAIL’; AND THOUGH HUMANITY LIVES ON PHYSICALLY ALIVE BUT SPIRITUALLY DEAD, “GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD”, HE DESIGNED ONE’S DELIVERANCE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS, THE SACRIFICIAL “LAMB OF GOD”!

AND DEATH, SPIRITUAL DEATH,HOW DID PAUL EXPLAIN THIS IN 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21? “FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINS US; BECAUSE WE THUS JUDGE, THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: AND THAT HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THEY WHICH LIVE “SHOULD NOT HENCEFORTH LIVE UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT UNTO “HIM” WHICH DIED FOR THEM, AND ROSE AGAIN”.

WHETHER HENCEFORTH KNOW WE NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH: YES, THOUGH WE HAVE KNOWN CHRIST AFTER THE FLESH, YET NOW HENCEFORTH KNOW WE HIM NO MORE. THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION; AND THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW. AND ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HAS RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF BY JESUS CHRIST, AND HAS GIVEN TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION;

TO WIT, THAT GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM; AND HAS COMMITTED UNTO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION. NOW THEN WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD DID BESEECH YOU BY US: WE PRAY YOU IN CHRIST’S STEAD, BE YOU RECONCILED TO GOD. FOR HE HAS MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN, THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS IN HIM.”

ARE YOU AWARE OF THAT? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? EXAMINE CAREFULLY 1 JOHN 3:7-10! HOLY GOD’S WORD SAYS, (THOUGH ‘MODERN-DAY’, ‘ILL-INFORMED’ DISCIPLES FOOLISHLY SAY:”WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL WE GET TO HEAVEN?” PHONY-BOLOGNA!), “LITTLE CHILDREN, LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU: HE THAT DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, EVEN AS CHRIST IS RIGHTEOUS. HE THAT COMMITS (PRESENT TENSE) SIN IS OF THE DEVIL; FOR THE DEVIL SINNED FROM THE BEGINNING. FOR THIS PURPOSE THE SON OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.

WHOSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD DOES NOT COMMIT SIN (PRESENT TENSE GREEK, “COMMITS-AND-KEEPS-ON-COMMITTING SIN” AS A ‘WAY OF LIFE’!”); FOR GOD’S SEED REMAINS IN HIM: AND HE CANNOT SIN, BECAUSE HE/SHE IS BORN OF GOD. IN THIS THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE MANIFEST (UNVEILED), AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL; WHOSOEVER DOES NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT OF GOD, NEITHER HE THAT LOVES NOT HIS BROTHER.”

“DEATH? THE DOOR TO HELL’S WORST AS ONE LIVES IN SELF-SATISFACTION THAT THE SIN-NATURE REMAINS, EVEN AS A BELIEVER,(“ENJOY IT”!), “OR”, AS PAUL EDUCATES US IN 2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-12, “FOR WE WOULD NOT, BRETHREN, HAVE YOU IGNORANT OF OUR TROUBLE WHICH CAME TO US IN ASIA, THAT WE WERE PRESSED OUT OF MEASURE, ABOVE STRENGTH, INSOMUCH THAT WE DESPAIRED EVEN OF LIFE: “BUT” WE HAD ‘THE SENTENCE OF DEATH IN OURSELVES (DAILY)’, THAT WE SHOULD NOT TRUST IN OURSELVES, BUT IN GOD, WHO RAISES THE DEAD: WHO DELIVERED US FROM SO GREAT A DEATH, AND STILL DELIVERS; IN WHOM WE TRUST THAT HE WILL YET DELIVER US; YOU ALSO HELPING TOGETHER BY PRAYER FOR US, THAT FOR THE GIFT BESTOWED UPON US BY THE MEANS OF MANY PERSONS THANKS MAY BE GIVEN BY MANY ON OUR BEHALF.

FOR OUR REJOICING IS THIS, THE TESTIMONY OF OUR CONSCIENCE, THAT IN SIMPLICITY AND GODLY SINCERITY, NOT WITH FLESHLY WISDOM, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE HAVE HAD OUR CONVERSATION IN THE WORLD, AND MORE ABUNDANTLY TO YOU.”

‘DEATH’ IN YOUR PRESENT LIFE NOW AS A BELIEVER? 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 DECLARES, “FOR GOD HAS MADE JESUS TO BE SIN FOR US, CHRIST WHO KNEW NO SIN (IN HIMSELF), THAT WE MIGHT (THROUGH HIS DEATH, RESURRECTION AND REIGNING PRESENCE WITHIN YOU) BE (BEING) MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM!”

DO YOU REMEMBER THAT “THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH”? IN 2 PETER 3:9-11, SAYS, “THE LORD IS NOT SLACK CONCERNING HIS PROMISE, AS SOME MEN COUNT SLACKNESS; BUT IS LONGSUFFERING TOWARD US, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.

BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT; IN THE WHICH THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, THE EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP. SEEING THEN THAT ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE DISSOLVED, WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YOU TO BE IN ALL HOLY CONVERSATION AND GODLINESS”

OH! DON’T FORGET 2 PETER 2 VERSES 19 & 22!. “WHILE THEY PROMISE THEM LIBERTY, THEY THEMSELVES ARE THE SERVANTS OF CORRUPTION; FOR OF WHOM A MAN IS OVERCOME, OF THE SAME IS HE BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE. VERSE 22,BUT IT IS HAPPENED UNTO THEM ACCORDING TO THE TRUE PROVERB, ‘THE DOG IS TURNED TO HIS OWN VOMIT AGAIN; AND THE SOW THAT WAS WASHED TO HER WALLOWING IN THE MIRE.”

ARE THERE ‘DISCIPLES’ TODAY WHO,AT TIMES, BETRAY THE LORD WITHIN, AND WILLFULLY CHOOSE TO PLAY AGAIN IN THEIR ‘POOLS OF SIN-VOMIT’? THERE ARE SOME WHO ARE TOTALLY UNAWARE OF SPIRITUAL DILIGENCE, AND IN THEIR CHILDISH STATE OF FAITH STILL, AT TIMES, WILL INDULGE IN THE ‘DIRT’ OF GODLESSNESS, YES, DECEIVED BY THE DEMONS, THE WORLD, AND THEIR OLD SIN-NATURE!

DO YOU AS A BELIEVER NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THE DIVINE, HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU IS THERE, NOT TO EXTINGUISH YOUR “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST”, BUT TO INTERCEDE IN YOU TO “TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, YOUR OLD LIFE THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE CONTINUALLY MANIFESTED IN YOUR MORTAL FLESH?

IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, (BY EDITOR, FRANK S. MEAD, PUBLISHED BY FLEMING H. REVELL COM., WESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY),ARE WORDS WRITTEN BY EDMUND VANCE COOKE ENTITLED “HOW DID YOU DIE?”, SAYING, “DEATH COMES WITH A CRAWL, OR COMES WITH A POUNCE. AND WHETHER HE’S SLOW OR SPRY, IT ISN’T THE FACT THAT YOU’RE DEAD COUNTS, BUT ONLY, HOW DID YOU DIE?”

“HOW WILL YOU DIE?”UNAWARE OF ETERNAL REALITIES-FLESH OR SPIRIT, HELL OR HEAVEN, SATAN’S WELCOME OR KING JESUS WITH OPEN ARMS?

I MUST SHARE THIS MESSAGE FROM ROMANS 8:1-14!! PAUL SAID: “THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, ‘WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH (OR OLD SIN-NATURE!)’, BUT AFTER THE HOLY SPIRIT. FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE ‘IN CHRIST JESUS’ HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.

FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH: THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT.

FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER FLESH (CELEBRATING THEIR OLD SIN-NATURES!) DO MIND THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE SPIRIT THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. FOR TO BE CARNALLY (FLESHLY) MINDED IS DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE. BECAUSE THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD: FOR IT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE. SO THAT THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD.

BUT YOU ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF SO BE IT THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU. NOW IF ANY MAN DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE IS NONE OF HIS. AND IF CHRIST BE IN YOU, THE BODY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF SIN; BUT THE SPIRIT IS LIFE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. VERSES 11-15 FOLLOW, HEAR IT!!

BUT IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS FROM THE DEAD DWELLS IN YOU, HE THAT RAISED UP CHRICT FROM THE DEAD SHALL ALSO QUICKEN YOUR MORTAL BODIES BY HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLS IN YOU. THEREFORE, BRETHREN,WE ARE DEBTORS, NOT TO THE FLESH (OR YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE!), TO LIVE FOR IT.

FOR IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE; BUT IF YOU THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU SHALL LIVE. FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. FOR YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE AGAIN TO FEAR; BUT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, WHEREBY WE CRY, ‘ABBA,FATHER’.”

I CLOSE WITH HYMN WORDS WRITTEN BY ISAAC WATTS THAT SAYS: “ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED? AND DID MY SOVEREIGN DIE? WOULD HE DEVOTE THAT SACRED HEAD FOR SUCH A WORM AS I?

WAS IT FOR CRIMES THAT I HAD DONE THAT HE GROANED UPON THE TREE? AMAZING PITY! GRACE UNKNOWN! AND LOVE BEYOND DEGREE!

WELL MIGHT THE SUN IN DARKNESS HIDE, AND SHUT HIS GLORIES IN, WHEN CHRIST, THE MIGHTY MAKER DIED FOR MAN THE CREATURE’S SIN.

BUT DROPS OF GRIEF CAN NEVER REPAY THE DEBT OF LOVE I OWE; HERE, LORD, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, IT’S ALL THAT I CAN DO.”

DO YOU ACCEPT, LIVE IN, AND SHARE WITH OTHERS OUR LORD’S VICTORY OVER THEIR SIN AND DEATH IN ORDER TO “SET THE CAPTIVES FREE”? IN ISAIAH 12:2-3 THE PROPHET SAID: “BEHOLD, GOD IS MY SALVATION; I WILL TRUST HIM, AND NOT BE AFRAID; FOR THE LORD JEHOVAH IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG; HE HAS BECOME MY SALVATION. THEREFORE WITH JOY SHALL YOU DRAW WATER OUT OF THE WELLS OF SALVATION”. HAVE YOU “TRUSTED THE LORD”?

VERSES 4-6 FOLLOW SAYING, “AND IN THAT DAY SHALL YOU SAY, (IS THAT SAYING TO OTHERS AROUND YOU?), PRAISE THE LORD, CALL UPON HIS NAME, DECLARE HIS DOINGS AMONG THE PEOPLE, MAKE MENTION THAT HIS NAME IS EXALTED.SING UNTO THE LORD; FOR HE HAS DONE EXCELLENT THINGS; THIS IS KNOWN IN ALL THE EARTH. CRY OUT AND SHOUT, YOU INHABITANTS OF ZION; FOR GREAT IS THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL THAT IS IN YOUR MIDST.” – CAN YOU SAY,RIGHT NOW: “I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST: FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION TO EVERY ONE WHO BELIEVES.” BUT HOW CAN THEY BELIEVE IF THEY NEVER HEARD, AND IF YOU AS CHRIST’S SERVANT AND ASSIGNED MESSENGER NEVER SHARE THE GOOD NEWS? DO YOU SEE THAT YOU “IN CHRIST” ARE A DEBTOR TO THE LOST WORLD AROUND YOU AND THAT WHAT YOU HOLD AND POSSESS OUT OF GOD’S LOVE, WAS GIVEN FREELY TO YOU TO JOYFULLY SHARE WITH OTHERS? “RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD!BE DONE WITH THE FOOLISH”!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ACTIVE RELIGION – INACTIVE RELATIONSHIP?

I HAVE A BOOK l’VE HAD FOR YEARS PUBLISHED IN 1972 ENTITLED "SIDE-SADDLE on the GOLDEN CALF" WHICH I READ & WAS CHALLENGED BY. BUT TODAY, AS THE LORD MOVED ON MY HEART &MIND RELATED TO A NEW TEACHING, I WONDERED . IF, MAYBE, THE MESSAGE HE WAS BIRTHING IN ME SHOULD BE ENTITLED, "SIDE-SADDLE on the golden goat"!

BUT THEN HE CLEARLY SAID: ‘ACTIVE RELIGION – INACTIVE RELATIONSHIP’,AND ,"IS" A CLEAR DESCRIPTION OF FALLEN, SIN-INFESTED, UNBELIEVING,REBELS IN HEART, WHO MAY BE ‘RELIGIOUS’ BUT NOT RE-BORN THROUGH REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH IN CHRIST’S "FINISHED WORK AT THE CROSS" & THE REALITY OF HIS EMPTY TOMB, AS HE MINISTERED FOR FORTY DAYS BEFORE HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN ENTHRONED NEXT TO GOD HIS FATHER I "ACTIVE RELIGION –INACTIVE RELATIONSHIP?"

THERE ARE (I} "IMPOSSIBILITIES" IN ‘RELIGIOUS TRYING’, BECAUSE TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH IS TRUSTING, ALLOWING GOD TO BE HIMSELF IN YOU & THROUGH YOUI OF COURSE, THERE ‘IS’ THE FATALITY OF A RELIGIOUS MAN ATTEMPTING BUT NOT "ATONED FOR",BECAUSE HE/SHE IS SO INDIFFERENT TO THE REVELATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE I

YOU’LL HEAR MANY ‘RELIGIOUS ,OPINIONATED’, EVEN ‘SORELY CONCEITED INDIVIDUALS’ ‘VERY MUCH IN LOVE WITH THEIR RELIGIOUS SELVES’, THAT THEY ‘STRUT’ IN CHURCHES & THEIR NEIGHBORLY ACTIVITY OF TRYING TO "SAVE OTHERS" WHEN IN THE MIND & HEART & SPIRIT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT "BLOOD ATONEMENT", OR "CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST", OR THE OLD SINFUL

SELF GONE, WITHOUT EVER TAKING "THE SENTENCE OF DEATH TO SELF DAILY THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED IN & THROUGH THEIR MORTAL FLESH"!!!

"ACTIVE RELIGION?" ARE YOU AWARE THAT IN ALL NATURAL MEN & WOMEN, CHILDREN OR YOUTH, THERE IS AN INWARD STRONG URGE TO BE ACCEPTED, TO BE ‘SOMETHING’ SOMEBODY LIKES; OR, LIKE ‘RELIGIOUS ATTENDANCE’IMPERSONATING BUT NOT RELEASING CHRIST JESUS TO BE HIMSELF THROUGH THEM, BECAUSE ITS THEIR PRETENSE NOT HIS PRESENCE T-HROUGH THEM!

"ACTIVE RELIGION?" "FEELING RELIGIOUSLY ACCEPTABLE",BUT NOT KNOWING: "CHRIST IN ME MY HOPE OF GLORY"! SUNDAY APPEARANCES APART FROM EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY WATCHING CHRIST BE HIMSELF IN YOU & THROUGH YOU, EXTENDING HIS LIFE, EXPRESSING HIS LOVE, & PROVING HIS POWER? MAN’S

INVOLVEMENT IN ‘RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES’ IS NOT AN EXTENSION OF CHRIST’S LIFE, AN EXPRESSION OF HIS LOVE, OR THE PROOF OF HIS POWER-THAT ONLY OCCURS IN "BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS WHO ARE ,TRULY,MENTALLY, SPIRITUALLY & HISTORICALLY PRESENTABLE, AS THOSE WHO WERE "CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST", & IN HIS

RESURRECTION-PRESENCE, HE COMES IN TO "ABIDE, BEING HIMSELF", AS "YOU" AS A NEW CHILD OF GOD, "TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH!"

"ACTIVE RELIGION? ‘TRYING’ OR "TRUSTING"? SELF­ DETERMINED OR SAVIOR-GRACED? ‘ATTEMPTING’ OR "ATONED THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB", NEW-BORN, & SOVEREIGNLY,WILLINGLY,LIVING IN YOUR HEART AS HEAVEN’S KINGDOM-RULER IN REPENTANT, OBEDIENT HEARTS, GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO GLORIFIES CHRIST IN YOU AGAIN & AGAIN & AGAIN II IN WATCHMAN NEE’S BOOK, "THE SPIRITUAL MAN", (PUBLISHED BY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP PUBLISHERS,INC., NEW YORK,1968) ON PAGE 43 NEE WROTE: "THE MAN GOD FASHIONED WAS NOTABLY DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER CREATED BEINGS. MAN POSSESSED A SPIRIT SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE ANGELS & AT THE SAME TIME HAD A SOUL RESEMBLING THAT OF THE LOWER ANIMALS. WHEN GOD CREATED MAN HE GAVE HIM A PERFECT FREEDOM. HE DID NOT MAKE MAN AN AUTOMATON, CONTROLLED AUTOMATICALLY BY GOD’S WILL. THIS IS EVIDENT IN GENESIS 2 AT THE TIME GOD INSTRUCTED THE ORIGINAL MAN WHAT FRUIT HE COULD EAT &WHAT NOT. THE MAN GOD CREATED ‘WAS NOT’ A MACHINE RUN BY GOD:INSTEAD HE HAD PERFECT FREEDOM OF CHOICE. IF HE CHOSE TO OBEY GOD, HE COULD; IF HE DECIDED TO REBEL AGAINST GOD, HE COULD DO THAT TOO. MAN HAD IN HIS POSSESSION A SOVEREIGNTY BY WHICH HE COULD EXERCISE HIS VOLITION IN CHOOSING TO OBEY OR DISOBEY. THIS IS A MOST IMPORTANT POINT, FOR WE MUST REALIZE THAT IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE

GOD NEVER DEPRIVES US OF OUR FREEDOM. UNLESS WE ACTIVELY COOPERATE, GOD WILL NOT UNDERTAKE ANYTHING FOR US. NEITHER GOD NOR THE DEVIL CAN DO ANY WORK WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING OUR CONSENT, FOR MAN’S WILL IS FREE." WOW! DOUBLE-WOW!" AND, "FREE TO CHOOSE", HISTORIC MAN CHOSE ‘HIS WORLD, HIS FLESH-SIN-NATURE, HIS DECEIVED MIND, "THANKS TO SATAN", AND FELL AWAY FROM HOLY GOD, THEN IN NEED OF RECONCILIATION THROUGH THE "LAMB’S BLOOD ATONEMENT", BIRTHED UPON REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK AT THE CROSS,&, HE/SHE IS THEN BORN-AGAIN, INFILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, & LED ON THE PATH OF TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS TO HONOR THE SAVIOR & LORD!!

"ACTIVE RELIGION –INACTIVE RELATIONSHIP?" SADLY IN MANY ‘RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES’ THERE IS THE FATALITY OF ‘FAITHLESS MEN’S INDIFFERENT ATTITUDE & MIND-SET’ TOWARD HOLY GOD &ALSO TOWARD THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, BELIEVING WITH THEIR MINDS, BUT VOID OF "CALVARY,BLOOD – BOUGHT-HEARTS"I ‘RELIGIOUS MIND-SETS’,AWARE OF THEIR ‘WEAKNESSES’, TRY TO IMPROVE WHAT HOLY GOD CRUCIFIED AS CHRIST JESUS, ON THE CROSS, SUFFERING & DYING, CARRIED MAN’S SIN­ NATURE, TO WASH IT AWAY BY HIS OWN BLOOD, DYING, BUT BEING RESURRECTED BY HOLY FATHER TO GIVE REPENTANT SONS & DAUGHTERS NEW IDENTITIES !!

‘ANTSY RELIGIOUS PARTICIPANTS BIRTH ITCHY MINDS & FLESHLY WILLS IN THEIR STRONGEST DECEPTIVE,BLINDING, EMBARASSING IDEAS’ OF "DOING MY BEST FOR GOD", AS THEY YIELD COLD, ICY, DEAD MINDS & HEARTS, WILLFULLY ‘PERFORMING’ BUT NOT IN "GRACED LIVING OF LIVES" THAT ARE "TEMPLES" WHERE THE LORD HIMSELF RESIDES TO BE HIMSELF THROUGH ONE’S AVAILABILITY FOR HIM, NOT THEM, WHO THEN WILLFULLY WATCH AS THE LORD MANIFESTS HIS PRESENCE AS THE "LIGHT" THAT OPENS ‘DARKENED HEARTS, MINDS, LIVING SOULISHLY’!I

CHARLES CALEB COLTON, IN HIS WRITING "LACON",(Vol.1,25),WROTE: "MEN WILL WRANGLE FOR RELIGION; WRITE FOR IT; FIGHT FOR IT; DIE FOR IT; ANYTHING BUT- LIVE FOR IT." TRUE FAITH IS NOT ‘RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION’, BUT "REDEMPTIVE FAITH" IS WHAT ONE IS ASSURED OF BY THE "RESIDENT JESUS", PRESENT,PRESIDING, PRESENTING, & PERFECTING THE TRULY REPENTANT, TRUSTING SOUL THAT LONGS FOR THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN THEM, FOR THEM, & BEING HIMSELF THROUGH THEM I (ARE YOU "RESTING" IN REDEMPTIVE FAITH IN THE "BLESSED ASSURANCE OF CHRIST"?

IN MY OLD "AMERICAN HYMNAL"( PUBLISHED IN 1933 BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE,TEN-N.) IS A HYMN ENTITLED "BLESSED ASSURANCE". IT SAYS:

"BLESSED ASSURANCE, JESUS IS MINE! OH,WHAT A FORETASTE OF GLORY DIVINE! HEIR OF SALVATION, PURCHASE OF GOD, BORN OF HIS SPIRIT,WASHED IN HIS BLOOD.

PERFECT SUBMISSION, PERFECT DELIGHT, VISIONS OF RAPTURE NOW BURST ON MY SIGHT; ANGELS DESCENDING,BRING FROM ABOVE ECHOES OF MERCY,WHISPERS OF LOVE.

PERFECT SUBMISSION, ALL IS AT REST, I IN MY SAVIOR AM HAPPY &BLEST; WATCHING & WAITING, LOOKING (WITHIN), FILLED WITH HIS GOODNESS, LOST IN HIS LOVE.

THIS IS MY STORY,THIS IS MY SONG,PRAISING MY SAVIOR ALL THE DAY LONG;THIS IS MY STORY, THIS IS MY SONG, PRAISING MY SAVIOR ALL THE DAY LONG."

MEN WITH ‘RELIGION’ DO SO IN TH-E ABSENCE OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD THAT UNVEILS THEIR ‘RELIGIOUS PRETENSE’, WHILE MEN WITH A HOLY SPIRIT-BIRTHED RELATIONSHIP LIVE AVOWING & AFFIRMING "THANKSGIVING" FOR THE CHRIST "IN THEM" THAT ETERALLY ABIDES, THANKING HIM FOR BEING HIMSELF THROUGH THEM DAILY,YES, EVEN MOMENT BY MOMENTI

AGAIN, SAME "THE AMERICAN HYMNAL",(P.43),IS A HYMN BY MAY WHITTLE MOODY ENTITLED "MOMENT BY MOMENT". IT SAYS: "DYING WITH JESUS, BY DEATH RECKONED MINE; LIVING WITH JESUS, A NEW LIFE DIVINE; LOOKING TO JESUS TILL GLORY SHINES, MOMENT BY MOMENT, 0 LORD, I AM THINE.

NEVER A TRIAL THAT HE IS NOT THERE, NEVER A BURDEN THAT HE DOES NOT BEAR; NEVER A SORROW THAT HE DOES NOT SHARE, MOMENT BY MOMENT, I’MUNDER HIS CARE.

NEVER A HEARTACHE, & NEVER A GROAN, NEVER A TEAR-DROP & NEVER A MOAN; NEVER A DANGER, BUT THERE ON THE THRONE, MOMENT BY MOMENT HE THINKS OF HIS OWN. NEVER A WEAKNESS THAT HE DOES NOT FEEL, NEVER A SICKNESS THAT HE CANNOT HEAL; MOMENT BY MOMENT, IN WOE OR IN WEAL, JESUS, MY SAVIOR,ABIDES WITH ME STILL.

MOMENT BY MOMENT I’M KEPT IN HIS LOVE; MOMENT BY MOMENT I’VE LIFE FROM ABOVE; LOOKING TO JESUS TILL GLORY DOES SHINE; MOMENT BY MOMENT, 0 LORD, I AM THINE."

AND YOU "LOOK WITHIN" -NOT OUT & UP, HOPING YOU CAN BREAK THROUGH CLOUDS & DARKNESS & OPPOSITION TO FINALLY "SEE HIM"­ "NO!" "CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY!" "CHRIST THROUGH YOU CONFRONTING ANY ENEMY OF HIS THAT WOULD WANT TO BRING YOU & HIM DOWN!" JESUS IS "VICTOR" OVER THE LAWS OF SIN & DEATH I JESUS IS "VICTOR" OVER SATAN & HIS DEMON ARMIES!

IN ROMANS 8:29-39,THERE IS TEACHING WITH A REVELATION SO ENRICHING & INSPIRING TRUE SERVANTS OF CHRIST. PAUL SAYS: "FOR WHOM GOD FOREKNEW, HE ALSO PREDESTINED OR PREDETERMINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE (EXACT LIKENESS!) OF HIS SON, THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.

MOREOVER WHOM HE PREDESTINED, THEM HE ALSO CALLED:& WHOM HE CALLED,THEM HE ALSO JUSTIFIED ("JUST-AS-IF-THEY’D-NEVER-SINNED"!):& WHOM HE JUSTIFIED, THEM HE ALSO GLORIFIED.

WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN TO THESE THINGS? IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? HE THAT SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON, BUT DELIVERED HIM UP FOR US ALL, HOW SHALL HE NOT WITH HIM ALSO FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS?

WHO SHALL LAY ANY THING TO THE CHARGE OF GOD’S ELECT? IT IS GOD THAT JUSTIFIES. WHO IS HE THAT CONDEMNS ?IT IS CHRIST THAT DIED,YEA RATHER, THAT IS RISEN AGAIN, WHO IS EVEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO ALSO MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US. WHO SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? SHALL TRIBULATION, OR DISTRESS, OR PERSECUTION, ORFAMINE OR NAKEDNESS, OR PERIL, OR SWORD? NO, IN ALL THESE THINGS WE "ARE" MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUG H HIM THAT LOVED US.

FOR I AM PERSUADED, THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS, NOR PRINCIPALITIES, NOR POWERS, NOR THINGS PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR HEIG HT, NOR DEPTH, NOR ANY OTHER CREATURE, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD." I CLOSE WITH ANOTHER HYMN THAT SAYS:

HAIL TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF ZION’S GLAD MORNING! JOY TO THE LANDS THAT IN DARKNESS HAVE LAIN! HUSHED BE THE ACCENTS OF SORROW & MOURNING; ZION IN TRIUMPH BEGINS HER GLAD REIGN.

HAIL TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF ZION’S GLAD MORNING! LONG BY THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL FORETOLD! HAIL TO THE MILLIONS FROM BONDAGE RETURNING, GENTILES & JEWS THE BLEST VISION BEHOLD!

LO! IN THE DESERT RICH FLOWERS ARE SPRINGING, STREAMS EVER COPIOUS ARE GLIDING ALONG; LOUD FROM THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS ECHOES ARE RINGING, WASTES RISE IN VERD UE & MINGLE IN SONG.

SEE, FROM ALL LANDS- FROM THE ISLES OF THE OCEAN,-PRAISE TO JEHOVAH ASCENDING ON HIGH; FALLEN ARE THE ENGINES OF WAR &COMMOTION, SHOUTS OF SALVATION ARE RENDING THE SKY."

IN "THE ‘SKY’ OF YOUR LIFE-ARE THERE GLORIES TO GOD"? IS IT FOR YOU: "ACTIVE RELIGION – INACTIVE RELATIONSHIP"? OR, IN YOU, IS IT: "ATONING FAITH THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST BIRTHING HIS ETERNAL LIFE IN YOU, & GIFTED BY GOD WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, IS THE HOLY SPIRIT GLORIFYING CHRIST THROUGH YOU"?

DON’T YOU WONDER AT TIMES? "IN THE ABSENCE OF TRUE FAITH, ARE MEN STILL ESTABLISHING ‘RELIGIONS’, & AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME REALIZE: "THIS ISN’T ‘GOD’S GARDEN OF TRUE FAITH! I’M IN A ‘GORILLA CAGE’?" AND THAT’S NOT GOOD!" WHY NOT FORSAKE YOUR ‘GORILLA CAGE’ & THROUGH TRUE REPENTANCE & FAITH ALLOW JESUS HIS ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUR LIFE AS HIS HOLY TEMPLE WHERE HE ABIDES, REACHING OUT THROUGH YOU TO TOUCH YOUR WORLD WITH HIS "AMAZING GRACE"?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“SMALL SEED – GREAT FRUIT”

HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU KNOW WHO SEE THEIR LIFE AS NOTHING MORE THAN A “RIDDLE OF EXISTENCE”? THEY REALLY DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE AND WHY THEY’RE HERE IN THIS AWESOME WORLD? A MEANINGLESS EXISTENCE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE “BIRTHED OR IMAGINED” BECAUSE DOUBT ABOUT LIFE’S MEANING, AT LEAST FOR THEM, HAS DUG THE GRAVE ON BIBLICAL FAITH,MERCY,AND THE LOVE OF GOD,WITH A SIN-NATURE,A SATANIC BLINDING,AND A “LOST WORLD’S DISPOSITION” OF OPPOSING GOD IF THEY AT LEAST ADMIT HE IS AROUND AND ‘MAY’ HAVE CREATED THE WORLD!

AND IF ‘YOU’ HAVEN’T FIGURED IT OUT YET,AT LEAST, BE ASSURED THAT YOU’RE NOT ALONE IN YOUR DOUBTS AND FEARS, BECAUSE NATURAL MEN WHO BAR THE DOOR TO SPIRITUAL TRUTH AND ITS REALITY ARE ACCOMPLICES OF TYRANNY IN OPPOSITION TO THE GOD THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW! THEY ARE “SEED” WITHOUT ANY “SUBSTANCE” OR UNDERSTANDING ABOUT EVEN WHY GOD WOULD BIRTH A FALLEN PEOPLE!THE TRUTH IS THAT HIS DESIRE FOR HIS SPIRITUAL KINGDOM WAS THAT, AS HE CREATED NATURAL KINGDOMS AND MASSES OF PEOPLE, HE WANTED “ALL” TO HAVE A CHOICE OF A GOD-RELATIONSHIP OR NOT! HE DIDN’T WANT ‘PUPPETS’ ON A STRING MEETING HIS EVERY DESIRE! HE WANTED PEOPLE WHOM HE CALLED TO HIMSELF WHO WOULD BE PEOPLE ALIGNING WITH HIM ON HIS TERMS! IN FACT, HOLY GOD PLANTED IN ALL OF FALLEN MAN’S EXISTENCE THE REALITY OF LIFESTYLE CHOICES: “FLESH OR SPIRITUAL”, “NATURAL OR SUPERNATURAL”, “EARTHLY OR HEAVENLY”, “BEST EFFORT” OR “BLESSED REST” IN A SAVIOR’S FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS”, ‘WILLFUL MINDFULNESS’ OR “SOVEREIGN MERCY”, ‘MAN’S MAN-MADE BROAD HIGHWAYS’ OR “GOD’S NARROW WAY OF LIFE IN CHRIST ALONE”, ‘ACCEPTABLE RELIGIONS’ OR “SPIRITUAL FREEDOM IN THE TABERNACLE OF GOD’S MERCY & GRACE”!

IT WAS BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER BUT I LOVED IT. IT WAS IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”,P.107, THAT SAYS: “GOD MADE BEES, AND BEES MADE HONEY; GOD MADE MAN, AND MAN MADE MONEY, PRIDE MADE THE DEVIL, AND THE DEVIL MADE SIN; SO GOD MADE A COAL-PIT TO PUT THE DEVIL IN.” LIFE’S CHOICES? A BLACKENED COAL PIT WITH SATAN, OR HEAVEN ON EARTH IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST?

“SMALL SEED –GREAT FRUIT!” IN HEBREWS 11:17-19 we read, “BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS TRIED (TESTED), OFFERED UP ISAAC: AND HE THAT HAD RECEIVED THE PROMISES OFFERED UP HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, OF WHOM IT WAS SAID, ‘THAT IN ISAAC SHALL YOUR SEED BE BLESSED; ACCOUNTING THAT GOD WAS ABLE TO RAISE HIM UP,EVEN FROM THE DEAD;FROM WHENCE ALSO HE RECEIVED HIM IN A FIGURE.” YOU UNDERSTAND –‘TESTING’ TO PLEASE GOD IS NOT MAN OFFERING THEIR SIN-NATURED SONS TO DIE, ‘THINKING’ SURELY GOD CAN RAISE THEM, BUT SONS WITH A ‘SIGN’ OF AN OPEN, YIELDING TO ‘SIN’, EVEN IF THEY DID GRASP ‘REPENTANCE’, ARE NOT, WERE NOT, WILL NOT BE BIRTHED IN THE ‘FLESH’ WITH A ‘SINLESS NATURE’ BUT ‘FLESHLY BIRTHED’ TO CARRY ON ‘SIN-NATIONALITY’, UNLESS CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, GUIDED INTO “TRUTH”, BIRTHED AGAIN THROUGH THE “SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST ON CALVARY’S CROSS”,

THE GUILTY THO’ RELIGIOUS’LIKE MOST OF THE JEWS OF JESUS’S “DAY” ARE NOT “BORN AGAIN” EXCEPT THROUGH CALVARY’S STORY, CHRIST’S RESURRECTION, CHRIST’S KNOCKING ON THEIR HEART’S DOOR TO TRULY AWAKEN THEM! WHEN HE CAUGHT THEIR ATTENTION, JESUS SAID, “REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!”

FOLLOW ME IN 2 PETER 1:1-12!! SIMON PETER, A SERVANT AND AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST, TO THEM THAT HAVE OBTAINED ‘LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH’ WITH US “THROUGH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: (SAVED FROM WHAT? UNRIGHTEOUSNESS? DISOBEDIENCE TO HOLY TRUTH? WORLD DEVOTION BLINDED TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD WITH FEEBLE ATTEMPTS & FAILING ATTEMPTS THROUGH ‘RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES’ RATHER THAN JESUS TELLING THEM & US, “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN”, DYING TO YOUR WORLD, YOUR SIN-NATURE, AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS OF SATAN HIMSELF?)

VERSE 2 & FOLLOWING: “GRACE AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED UNTO YOU THROUGH “THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS, THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF “HIM” THAT HAS CALLED US TO GLORY & VIRTUE; WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT & PRECIOUS PROMISES:THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST.

VERSE 5 & FOLLOWING: AND BESIDE THIS, GIVING ALL DILIGENCE, ADD TO YOUR FAITH VIRTUE; AND TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE; AND TO KNOWLEDGE TEMPERANCE; AND TO TEMPERANCE PATIENCE; AND TO PATIENCE GODLINESS; AND TO GODLINESS BROTHERLY KINDNESS; AND TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS CHARITY.

VERSE 8 &FOLLOWING: FOR IF THESE THINHS BE IN YOU, AND ABOUND,THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN OR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BUT HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, AND CANNOT SEE AFAR OFF, AND HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS. WHEREFORE THE RATHER, BRETHREN, GIVE DILIGENCE TO “MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE”; FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGHDOM OF OUR LORD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

WHEREFORE I WILL NOT BE NEGLIGENT TO PUT YOU ALWAYS IN REMEMBRANCE OF THESE THINGS, THOUGH YOU KNOW THEM, AND BE “ESTABLISHED” (OR “MADE TO STAND”!) IN THE PRESENT TRUTH.”

THE PRESENT TRUTH? THAT “YOU” WERE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, &THE OLD LIFE THAT DIED ON THE CROSS WAS BURIED IN THE ‘SEA OF GOD’S FORGETFULNESS’, THAT HOLY GOD THEN “RAISED YOU UP IN THE “NEWNESS OF LIFE”, COMMISSIONED YOU AS A SERVANT WHO ALLOWS ONE’S SELF TO BE THE “TABERNACLE” WHERE CHRIST DWELLS, AND CHOOSES TO DO “THROUGH YOU” ALL THE FATHER TELLS YOU TO DO – YOU THEN EXTEND HIS LIFE, EXPRESS LOVE TO HIM MOMENT BY MOMENT, AND HE PROVES HIS RESURRECTION POWER THROUGH YOU AS YOU “REST IN HIM” & ALLOW HIM TO BE HIMSELF THROUGH YOU!!

“SMALL SEED”? BUT GREAT POTENTIAL WHEN “SEED PLANTED BY GOD, WATERED & FERTILIZED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WITH THE ‘SONSHINE’ OF GOD’S MERCY BLAZING ON IT, PRODUCES CONTINUING, GREAT “FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT” REVEALING THE MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE OF GOD THROUGH HEAVEN-BORN “TREES OF FAITH & TRUST” IN GOD’S ABILITY TO RAISE THE “DEAD” TO “NEW-LIFE IN & THROUGH THE BLOOD REDEMPTION OF CHRIST’S CROSS, HIS DEATH, & HIS RESURRECTION”!!

I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE WITH WORDS OF JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS, IN JAMES 5:10-20, AS HE WROTE INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT: VERSE 10-20, “TAKE, MY BRETHREN, THE PROPHETS, WHO HAVE SPOKEN IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, FOR AN EXAMPLE OF SUFFERING AFFLICTION, AND OF PATIENCE (OR STEDFASTNESS). BEHOLD, WE COUNT THEM HAPPY WHICH ENDURE. YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE PATIENCE OF JOB, AND HAVE SEEN THE END OF THE LORD; THAT THE LORD IS VERY PITIFUL, & OF TENDER MERCY.

BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS, MY BRETHREN,SWEAR NOT,NEITHER BY HEAVEN,NEITHER BY THE EARTH,NEITHER BY ANY OTHER OATH:BUT LET YOUR YES BE YES; AND YOUR NO,NO; LEST YOU FALL INTO CONDEMNATION. IS ANY AMONG YOU AFFLICTED?LET HIM PRAY.ISANY MERRY?LET HIM SING PSALMS. IS ANY SICK AMONG YOU?LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH; AND LET THEM PRAY OVER HIM,ANOINTING HIM WITH OIL IN THE NAME OF THE LORTD: AND THE PRAYER OF FAITH SHALL SAVE THE SICK, AND THE LORD SHALL RAISE HIM UP; AND IF HE HAS COMMITTED SINS, THEY SHALL BE FORGIVEN HIM.

CONFESS YOUR FAULTS ONE TO ANOTHER, AND PRAY ONE FOR ANOTHER, THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED. THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILS MUCH. ELIAS (OR ELIJAH) WAS A MAN SUBJECT TO LIKE PASSIONS AS WE ARE, AND HE PRAYED EARNESTLY THAT IT MIGHT NOT RAIN:

AND IT RAINED NOT ON THE EARTH BY THE SPACE OF 3 YEARS & 6 MONTHS. AND HE PRAYED AGAIN, & THE HEAVEN GAVE RAIN, & THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH HER FRUIT. BRETHREN,IF ANY OF YOU DO ERR FROM THE TRUTH, AND ONE CONVERT HIM; LET HIM KNOW, THAT HE WHICH CONVERTS THE SINNER FROM THE ERROR OF HIS WAY SHALL SAVE A SOUL FROM DEATH, & SHALL HIDE A MULTITUDE OF SINS.”

“SMALL SEED-GREAT FRUIT”? WHAT IS HOLY GOD DOING THRU’ YOUR LIFE? ‘NO SEED-NO FRUIT’? OR “SMALL SEED-GREAT FRUIT”? IT IS AN ETERNAL LIFE CHOICE!!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION-LIFE!”

RESURRECTION POWER, RESURRECTION PRESENCE, RESURRECTION PRIVILEGE, ARRIVING, ABIDING, ASKING, EVEN PLEADING,CHRIST JESUS, RESURRECTED AND REIGNING, SAYS: “OPEN YOUR HEART’S DOOR, AND I, JESUS, WILL COME IN.” CHRIST BLED, CHRIST PLEADS, CHRIST KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR”, COMPASSIONATELY SAYING, “SIN NO LONGER YOUR MASTER ANYMORE. MY BLOOD I’VE SHED, YOUR BOOK OF LIFE I’VE READ – AND MY SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SIN? IT’S FOR ME AS IF YOUR SIN NEVER HAD BEEN!”

THOUGH SIN IS ONE’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD, PRODUCING THE “GRAVE OF LIFE” IN WHICH ONE DWELLS, THE SAVIOR COMES SAYING, “THE GLOOM IS GONE, YOUR TOMB IS NOW EMPTY; MY RESURRECTION IS YOUR LIFE OF PLENTY!

MY PLENTY IS YOUR GIFT OF GRACE, MY INTERCESSION IS YOUR GIFT OF A NEW PLACE! MY PLAN IS ‘IMMORTAL HOPE THAT DISPELS THE GLOOM, WITH MANY ANGELS MAKING SURE OF YOUR ROOM’!

EARTH MAY STILL REMAIN EARTH, ASHES WILL HOLD ON AS ASHES, DUST WILL BE DUST – BUT IN RESURRECTION LIFE, WE LIVE OVERCOMING STRIFE, THE GRAVE, AND THE DUST HAS LOST ITS STING – WE ONLY HEAR THE ANGELS SING!

CHRIST IS WELCOMED AS DEPARTED SAINTS SING, AND WE WHO FOLLOW WILL MAKE THE HEAVENS RING! YES, JOY TO OUR WORLD NEVER TO SUBSIDE, BECAUSE JESUS OUR LORD FOREVER ABIDES!

NEVER TO LEAVE US, NEVER TO FORSAKE US, NEVER TO SAY TO US, “THIS IS NOT YOUR PLACE! THOUGH EARTHLY TIME IS REAL, ETERNAL LIFE REMAINS, AND HEAVEN ON EARTH WILL NEVER BE RESTRAINED!

ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU –MARRIED IN MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THOUGH I DIED ON A CROSS, BURIED IN A TOMB, THREE DAYS LATER I ROSE AGAIN, SO YOU WILL TASTE DEATH BUT CELEBRATE MORE IN RESURRECTION LIFE ETERNALLY; THAT’S HEAVENLY PRESENCE IN SHARED IMMORTALITY.

THE ‘SON-DIAL’ IS SET, THE SON AND MOON NEVER FALL, BECAUSE CHRIST JESUS IS LORD OVER ALL! REJOICE YOU SAINTS; IN YOUR SAVIOR ABIDE, BECAUSE JESUS OUR LORD NEVER HIDES! HE’S EVER-PRESENT YOUR LIFE TO WATCH OVER, WHEN SATAN IN DARKNESS SEEKS YOU TO CLOSE, JESUS SINGS, BECAUSE HE AROSE!

AND OVER YOUR LIFE OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE AND SERVICE IN THE KING’S NAME, KING JESUS REJOICES AND REVEALS YOUR FAME – MADE FAMOUS IN CHRIST BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD THAT HE SHED, CONTINUALLY PRAISING BECAUSE OF THE FAITH YOU HAVE READ.

TRUSTING HIS WORD, PROVIDENTIALLY IN FAITH WE’RE FULLY BLESSED, CONFIDING IN ‘PROVIDENCE’, WE SURELY “REST”! THOUGH TESTED AND PRESSED AND HEMMED IN ON EVERY SIDE, CHRIST JESUS IS LORD AND SAVIOR REIGNING OVER YOU UNTIL HIS ETERNAL LIGHT SHINES THROUGH.

IN CHRIST YOU’RE VICTORIOUS, THOUGH IT SEEMS YOU OUGHT TO FROWN, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS RESURRECTION PRESENSE IN YOU, ALL SATAN CAN DO IS ACT LIKE A CLOWN. YOU ARE THE WINNER BECAUSE “IN CHRIST” YOU ABIDE, KNOWING JESUS STANDS WITH YOU, BEHIND YOU, AND BY YOUR SIDE.TOUGH, ROUGH, FIERCE TIMES MAY COME YOUR WAY, LIKE A SPARROW THAT SUDDENLY FALLS TO THE GROUND, BUT THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR WILL SURELY BE FOUND, KEEPING WATCH OVER HIS CHILDREN AS THE FATHER OF THEIR FAITH; STRONG IN HIS WORD, SOUND IN HIS WILL – WHEN HIS CHILDREN ARE TESTED, HE DOESN’T REMAIN STILL!

THE “PURE IN HEART” ARE THOSE WHO SEE GOD, WHILE THE SPIRITUALLY BLIND ARE THOSE WITHOUT HOPE WHO SPEAK IN FLESHLY ELOQUENCE WHILE THEIR CHAINS GROW TIGHTER, BUT THE CHILDREN OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE ARE TRUE SAINTS WITH NO DESIRE OF ANY TAINTS! KNOWING GOD LOVES THE “PURE IN HEART”, A MAN OF TRUE FAITH NEVER LETS ‘RUST’ REMAIN, BUT EVERY DAY HE TAKES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH THAT HE MIGHT CONTINUALLY REJOICE IN HEAVEN’S DOMAIN! THE “PURE IN HEART” NEVER CONSIDER FORSAKING THE WORD’S BIBLICAL STANDARDS, BUT DAILY TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH TO THE OLD MAN THAT THE NEW MAN “IN CHRIST” MAY UNCEASINGLY REJOICE, SECURELY RESTING ON HIS FAITHFUL PROMISES, MIRRORS OF HIS ABIDING PRESENCE!

“IN CHRIST” ONE’S HEART IS TO BE TRANSPARENT AS PURE CRYSTAL; “IN CHRIST” ONE’S MIND IS THE SOUL’S NEW IMAGE, EVEN FIGHTING TO BE BOLD TO KEEP IT PURE! “CHRIST IN YOU IS YOUR HOPE OF GLORY”, HIM FAITHFULLY STANDING TO FIGHT YOUR FIGHT OF FAITH WHEN THE ‘STORM CLOUDS’ RISE, SATAN SURE THAT HE AND HIS DEMONS CAN TAKE YOU DOWN HOPING YOU NEVER RISE TO RESIST THEIR FLOOD; SO IN FAITH PLEAD THE BLOOD!!“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTED LIFE HAS NEVER LOST ITS POWER”! SO IN JESUS, IN THIS HOUR OF EARTHLY TESTINGS, RELAX IN THE WORD, THE SPIRIT, AND THE PROMISES, WATCHING JESUS FIGHT FOR YOU AS GOD’S VICTOR! HE’S MORE THAN CONQUEROR – HE’S ETERNAL VICTOR, OVER THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND SATAN!”

THAT’S THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN A VESSEL (ME,YOU!),THAT SO DESIRES HOLY GOD TO RELEASE,UNVEIL, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST’S PRESENCE, SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, HAVING HIS WAY “IN ME,IN YOU AS WE HEAR OR READ HIS MESSAGE”! ARE YOU FAMILIAR AT ALL WITH THE POWERFUL UNVEILING OF CHRIST JESUS IN JOHN ONE? THAT’S WHERE THE APOSTLE JOHN WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE THE FOLLOWING:

JOHN 1:1-5,”IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.(IS THAT JESUS, “THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING, ‘RICH IN LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY’, THE SOVEREIGN MERCIFUL SAVIOR AND LORD?”)

THE SAME WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM; AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANY THING MADE THAT WAS MADE. IN HIM WAS LIFE,(LITERALLY, “IN THE HOLY SPIRIT’S BIRTHING, AND WITH THE “CREATOR’S ETERNAL BLESSING”,JESUS PROMISING “I’LL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU!”); AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN. (BUT) THE “LIGHT” SHINES IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT.”

UNBELIEVERS, IN THEIR DARKNESS, HAVE TO HAVE A WITNESS THAT, YES, THERE IS “THE LIGHT OF CHRIST” THAT CAN TAKE ONE OUT OF THE EMPTINESS OF A SPIRITUALLY DARKENED, SIN-FILLED,SATANICALLY DEVISED,SELF-RULING EXISTENCE TO BRING ONE INTO “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!”

LET THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE “YOU” OUT OF SPIRITUAL DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT UNVEILING FOR YOU THE HEAVENLY,ETERNALLY, LIFE-GIVING SAVIOR AND LORD WHO FOREVER REIGNS VICTORIOUSLY THROUGH REPENTANT, “TRUSTING” HEARTS AND SOULS, WHO “TAKE UP THE CROSS, CHOOSING TO FOLLOW JESUS”!

NOTICE,JOHN 1:6-7, “THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROMGOD, WHOSE NAMES WAS JOHN. THE SAME CAME FOR A WITNESS, TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE LIGHT, THAT ALL MEN MIGHT BELIEVE (OR TRUST, SURRENDER, YIELD!).” WHY? BECAUSE RELYING UPON ONE’S INNER,SOCIAL,SELF-ACCEPTED RIGHT TO RULE WITHOUT THE HEAVENLY FATHER’S, YES, INNER SPIRIT AGENDA IN A REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART, THAT, YES, CHOOSES “DYING DAILY TO ‘THAT’ SELF SO THAT RESURRECTED JESUS IS GIVEN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE TO LIVE IN YOU AND REIGN THROUGH YOU, TOUCHING YOUR WORLD WITH HIS LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY, WITH YOU AS HIS “WISE, REPENTING, TRUSTING, YIELDED SERVANT,OBEYING TO ‘GO INTO ALL YOUR WORLD PREACHING THE GOSPEL, WITNESSING OF HIS ETERNAL ‘MASTER-WORK’ IN BIRTHING DEAD SPIRITUAL LIVES INTO TEMPLES OF THE INDWELLING LORD AND SAVIOR, HIS HOLY SPIRIT, AND HIS ETERNAL VISION OF WORLD REDEMPTION, THROUGH “YOU” IN FAITHFUL MINISTRY OF INTRODUCING THOSE AROUND YOU WITH THE “GOOD NEWS” OF CHRIST JESUS’S BLOOD SACRIFICE, RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD, AND REIGNING ETERNALLY IN REPENTANT MINDS AND HEARTS, ALLOWING, “JESUS, BE JESUS, IN ME – NO LONGER ME, BUT THEE; RESURRECTION POWER, FILL ME THIS HOUR, JESUS, BE JESUS IN ME!”

ALSO, IN JOHN 1, NOTICE VERSES 8-16! “JOHN WAS NOT THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT TO “BEAR WITNESS” OF THAT LIGHT. THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT, JESUS, WHICH LIGHTS EVERY MAN THAT COMES INTO THE WORLD. (THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS AN AMAZING UNVEILING OF EVERY MAN IN ANY NATION – HOLY GOD HAS BORNER ‘WITNESS’ UNTO THEM WHETHER THEY RECEIVE IT OR NOT!!!). JOHN CONTINUES, VERSES 10-16,

JESUS WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT. HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN (HIS JEWISH HERITAGE, HIS EARTHLY RELATIVES!), HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. “BUT” AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM HE GAVE POWER TO BECOME SONS OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE (OR “TRUST”) ON HIS NAME:

WHICH WERE BORN, NOT OF BLOOD, NOR OF THE WILL OF THE ‘FLESH’ (OR OLD SIN-NATURE’), NOR OF THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD. AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF FATHER-GOD!DID “YOU”?), FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.JOHN BORE (&BARES) WITNESS OF HIM, CRYING OUT, SAYING, THIS WAS “HE” OF WHOM I SPOKE, ‘HE THAT COMES AFTER ME IS PREFERRED BEFORE ME; FOR HE WAS BEFORE ME. AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE RECEIVED, AND GRACE FOR GRACE.”

GRACE FOR GRACE? GRACE GIVEN-GRACE SHARED! GRACE WORKING IN ME – GRACE WORKING THROUGH ME! GRACE FOR THE LOST – GRACE FOR THE FOUND! GRACE TO EXPOUND-GRACE TO ENLIGHTEN OTHERS! GRACE TO GROUND ONE ON THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF VICTORIOUS LIVING – GRACE TO TRANSPORT US THROUGH THE GRAVE UNTO OUR EARTHLY MINISTRIES THEN UNTO OUR ETERNAL HOME AROUND CHRIST’S THRONE, GOD GRACIOUSLY ALLOWING US TO ETERNALLY BE CHRIST’S “FOOT-WASHERS” AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING OF GLORY!

DEATH IS AND HAS NO “STING” –IT’S THE OPENING OF THE DOOR TO UNENDING SERVICE TO THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR AND LORD ON HIS THRONE! RESURRECTION LIFE! RESURRECTION POWER! RESURRECTION GLORY AND GRACE AND GLOW!

IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, COPYRIGHTED IN 1940, IS THE OLD HYMN “PEACE!BE STILL!”, WRITTEN BY MARY BAKER AND H.R.PALMER. IT SAYS:

“MASTER, THE TEMPEST IS RAGING! THE BILLOWS ARE TOSSING HIGH! THE SKY IS O’ER-SHADOWED WITH BLACKNESS, NO SHELTER OR HELP IS NIGH: “CAREST YOU NOT THAT WE PERISH?” HOW CAN YOU LIE ASLEEP? WHEN EACH MOMENT SO MADLY IS THREATENING A GRACE IN THE ANGRY DEEP?

MASTER, WITH ANGUISH OF SPIRIT I BOW IN MY GRIEF TODAY; THE DEPTHS OF MY SAD HEART ARE TROUBLED; O WAKEN AND SAVE, I PRAY! TORRENTS OF SIN AND OF ANGUISH SWEEP O’ER MY SINKING SOUL! AND I PERISH! I PERISH, DEAR MASTER; O HASTEN, AND TAKE CONTROL!

MASTER, THE TERROR IS OVER, THE ELEMENTS SWEETLY REST; EARTH’S SUN IN THE CALM LAKE IS MIRRORED, AND HEAVEN’S WITHIN MY BREAST. LINGER, O BLESSED REDEEMER, LEAVE ME ALONE NO MORE; AND WITH JOY I SHALL MAKE THE BLEST HARBOR, AND REST ON THE BLISSFUL SHORE.

“THE WINDS AND THE WAVES SHALL OBEY GOD’S WILL, PEACE, BE STILL!” WHETHER THE WRATH OF A STORM-TOSSED SEA, OR DEMONS, OR MEN, OR WHATEVER IT BE, NO WATER CAN SWALLOW THE SHIP WHERE LIES “THE MASTER” OF OCEAN AND EARTH AND SKIES; THEY ALL SHALL SWEETLY OBEY MY WILL; PEACE, BE STILL!” ARE “YOU”AT PEACE WITH HOLY GOD, BY CHRIST JESUS, CONVICTED, CONVINCED, CONSECRATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT?

IN EXODUS 14:8, PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT, LIKE SATAN OVER HELL, HAD HIS HEART HARDENED, AND HE CONTINUED PURSUING THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, LIKE SATAN TODAY STILL PURSUES THE SONS OF FAITH, THE CHILDREN OF GOD, THE JOINT-HEIRS AND ANOINTED AMBASSADORS OF CHRIST JESUS,BUT IN VERSES 13-14 WE READ: AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE, “FEAR YOU NOT, STAND STILL, AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, WHICH HE SHALL SHEW TO YOU TODAY; FOR THE EGYPTIANS (THEN, BUT THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, AND SATAN NOW!) WHOM YOU HAVE SEEN TODAY, YOU SHALL SEE THEM AGAIN NO MORE FOR EVER. THE LORD SHALL FIGHT FOR YOU, AND YOU SHALL HOLD YOUR PEACE.”

“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION LIFE?” THAT’S INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IN YOU AS YOU DAILY DIE TO YOUR OLD SELF THAT THE “NEW MAN” IN CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH! AND YOU KNOW IT’S REALITY BY THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHO ESTABLISHES THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN AND BEARS FRUIT! GALATIANS 5:22-25 SAYS, “BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS (TEMPERANCE OR SELF CONTROL!); AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. (AS A RESULT) VERSE 24 SAYS, AND THEY THAT “ARE CHRIST’S” HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!?!) WITH ITS AFFECTIONS AND LUSTS. VERSE 25! “IF WE LIVE ‘IN THE SPIRIT’, LET US ALSO “WALK IN THE SPIRIT”!

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY OF FAITH IN THE CHURCH, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR NATION, AND THE WORLD! ARE YOU THE “FAITHFUL AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST THE LORD”? IN A BOOK I HAD PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER, 2006, ENTITLED “OUR GRACIOUS GOD”, ON PPS.90-91, I WROTE: “I CAME ACROSS A STORY THAT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN MY LIFE. LOCATION –BELLE CHASE, LOUISIANA. A COUPLE WAS OUT ON A ROMANTIC DRIVE THROUGH A WOODED SECTION. ONE OF THEM GLANCED ASIDE TO SEE A SHIMMERING, WHITE GLOW THAT CAUGHT THE EYES. THEY DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE AND FOUND A DEAD TEENAGER HANGING FROM A TREE LIMB WITH A BED-SHEET WRAPPED AROUND HIS NECK. HE LEFT A NOTE ADDRESSED TO “MOM AND DAD.” IT SAID:

“I NEVER DID DEVELOP INTO A REAL PERSON AND I CANNOT TOLERATE THE FALSE AND EMPTY EXISTENCE I HAD CREATED. WHAT FRUSTRATED ME MOST IN THE LAST YEAR WAS THAT I HAD BUILT NO TIES TO FAMILY OR FRIENDS. THERE WAS NOTHING OF LASTING WORTH AND VALUE. I LED A DETACHED EXISTENCE. I AM A BOMB OF FRUSTRATION AND SHOULD NEVER MARRY OR HAVE CHILDREN. IT IS SAFEST TO DEFUSE THE BOMB HARMLESSLY NOW, SIMPLY CREMATE ME AS JOHN DOE.” I WENT ON CLOSING OUT THAT CHAPTER, WRITING: “NO ONE EVER CLAIMED HIM OR TO HAVE KNOWN HIM. HE TRULY DIED ‘alone’,(a lonely, godless, unbelieving ‘child’!).THAT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN THE STORY OF MY LIFE. COMING OUT OF A FAMILY OF A BROKEN MARRIAGE, I WAS THREE YEARS OF AGE, TAKEN TO LIVE WITH MY GRANDPARENTS –AND EVEN THOUGH THEY LOVED ME, THERE WAS THAT GNAWING EMPTINESS OF UNIMPORTANCE TO ANYBODY. ALL THROUGH THE YEARS OF MY LIFE (EVEN COLLEGE & SEMINARY!!!) UNTIL MY LATE THIRTIES SUICIDE WAS A POSSIBILITY – BUT SOMETHING HELD ME BACK UNTIL I WAS BORN AGAIN IN FEBRUARY, 1974!! IT WAS THE LOVE OF MY WIFE, SUE, MY CHILDREN, THE LOVE OF FAMILY, AND YES THE LOVE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, THEIR LOVE FOR HIM SHINING THE LIGHT THAT GOD HIMSELF ALWAYS LOVED ME AND WANTED TO BE MY SAVIOR, MY SHIELD, AND MY PROTECTOR AND PROVIDER AND PROVISION OF “CHRIST IN ME, MY HOPE OF GLORY”, YES, MY GUARANTEE OF “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR THROUGH CHRIST WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.

TELL ME! WHAT ABOUT YOU NOW, THROUGH DEATH’S DOOR, ENTERING AN EVERLASTING HOME: “IN CHRIST”, HEAVEN! APART FROM HIM, “AN ETERNAL HELL WITH SATAN, THE WORLD, AND UNREDEEMED LIVES”! CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY!!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“SURE TESTS FOR BLOOD-REDEEMED LIVES ‘IN CHRIST’!

SEVERAL VERSES TO LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR THIS MESSAGE ARE FOUND, FIRST, IN LUKE 10:38, WHERE THE CONVERTED PHYSICIAN SAID, “HOW GOD ANOINTED JESUS OF NAZARETH WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WITH POWER, WHO WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD AND HEALING ALL WHO WERE OPPRESSED BY THE DEVIL, FOR GOD WAS WITH HIM.”

THEN WE READ IN ACTS 19:11, “NOW GOD WORKED UNUSUAL (OR “EXTRAORDINARY”) MIRACLES BY THE HANDS OF PAUL.” BUT ARE YOU AWARE THAT OVER THE CENTURIES THE “GOOD NEWS” WAS SO ‘WATERED’ DOWN THAT ‘BELIEVERS’ COULDN’T SEE CHRIST WANTED TO BE HIMSELF “IN THEM” SO THAT THROUGH THEM HE COULD EXTEND & EXPRESS & UNVEIL “THE GOD OF SIGNS AND WONDERS”?

ARE THE “PROMISES” AND MULTIPLE “ASSURANCES” IGNORED, OR WILLFULLY BLINDED TO, OR WIPED OUT THROUGH ONE’S ‘SELF-ASSURANCE THAT I’M FORGIVEN, AND THAT’S ALL THAT I’M CONCERNED ABOUT?’, WHEN ONE, A MAN OR WOMAN, BOY OR GIRL, IS,YES,(ROMANS 3:24) “BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY GOD’S GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS,” WE, THEN, ARE FREE TO ENJOY OUR ETERNAL BLESSINGS WITH NO CONCERN FOR THOSE AROUND US WHO DON’T KNOW ABOUT “GOD’S SAVING GRACE & MERCY THROUGH CHRIST JESUS”?

RECONCILIATION TO HOLY GOD, BUT NO REACHING OUT TO THOSE WHO NEED HIS RECONCILIATION PROMISE? “RE-BIRTH” THROUGH REPENTANCE AND FAITH, BUT NO CONCERN OF EXTENDING THE FAMILY OF FAITH? THE DOOR OPENED BY CHRIST TO HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM YOU WERE WELCOMED INTO, BUT BLINDED TO OTHERS WHO NEED THE SAME GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE? YOU, “CLOTHED IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS”, BUT “you”HAVE NO DESIRE TO CLOTHE OTHERS IN “CHRIST’S MINISTRY” TO BIRTHED, NATURAL SEEDED BABIES, DESPERATELY NEEDING TO BE RAISED OUT OF SPIRITUAL DEATH INTO THE EVERLASTING REALMS OF ETERNAL LIFE & CLOTHED, YES, AS THE HOLY WORD SAYS IN REVELATION 16:15b, “BLESSED IS HE THAT WATCHES, AND KEEPS HIS GARMENTS, LEST YOU WALK NAKED, AND THEY SEE YOUR SHAME??” EXAMINE CAREFULLY 2 CORINTHIANS 5:4 WHERE PAUL SAID: “FOR WE THAT ARE IN THIS (PHYSICAL) TABERNACLE DO GROAN, BEING BURDENED; NOT FOR THAT WE WOULD BE UNCLOTHED (ANY LONGER!), BUT CLOTHED UPON, THAT MORTALITY WOULD BE SWALLOWED UP OF LIFE”, WHICH MEANS MORTAL BEINGS WHO REPENT AND FAITH CHRIST WILL BE CLOTHED IN THE “GARMENTS OF HIS SALVATION” PLUS THE FRUITS OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT ‘JUICING US UP’ TO THE GLORY OF GOD!!

“IN CHRIST” ARE YOU “A VESSEL UNTO HONOR, SANCTIFIED, AND MEET (OR PREPARED, EQUIPPED, DRESSED) FOR THE MASTER’S USE?” ARE YOU “CLOTHED IN CHRIST’S GARMENTS” OF HIS “GRACED PRESENCE WITHIN”,“GRACE GIFTS”, “GRACE CALLINGS & ORDERS”, PLUS, “GRACE EXPOSURES WHEN THE REDEEMED DISCIPLES THINK THEIR ‘EFFORTS ARE SURELY ACCEPTABLE WHEN’, (IF THEY WERE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST), EVEN THEIR BEST EFFORTS BECOME POOR SUBSTITUTIONS FOR JESUS’ RESURRECTED, REIGNING, RULING,AND JESUS WILL REACH THROUGH THE STUNNED PRETENSE OF ‘THE GIVE-IT-YOUR-BEST ATTITUDE’, ‘OR DOES A DISCIPLE’S GRIT, HIS BEST EFFORT, AND HIS MENTAL ABILITIES’ CARRY HIM/HER ON LIFE’S HIGHWAY, BUT SHAMING CHRIST BECAUSE HE/SHE WALKS NAKED, NOT CLOTHED IN THE FULLNESS OF HIS HOLY PRESENCE IN SPIRIT-ABIDING WITHIN, AND CERTAINLY NOT IN “HIS ARMOR” TO PROTECT ONE WHO GOES OUT INTO DARKNESS TO SHARE THE “LIGHT”, UNVEILING THE ‘SINNERS’ DARKNESS’ AND HOPING “CHRIST IN YOU & THROUGH YOU” IS ALIVE AND WELL & THAT HE WILL BE IN YOU, YES, “AS YOU TRIED SHINING HIS “LIGHT” BUT THOSE BEFORE YOU WHO “MUST BE BORN AGAIN” NEED THE RESURRECTED CHRIST, NOT A ‘BEST-EFFORT DISCIPLE’ WITH ‘NATURAL LIGHT’ BUT NOT “SPIRIT-ANOINTING” TESTIFYING THROUGH TRUE VESSELS, THAT ARE “VESSELS”,BUT HIS PRESENSE WITHIN YOU, YES, ISN’T SPEAKING TO THE NEEDY THROUGH YOU BECAUSE ‘YOU’ “TRY” BUT AREN’T “TRUSTING” TO BE HIMSELF THROUGH YOU?

“SURE TESTS FOR THE BLOOD-REDEEMED ‘IN CHRIST’?” IN MATTHEW 9:31 JESUS SPOKE TO HIS DISCIPLES, [LET ME PAUSE BEFORE I READ]: (IF “YOU” ARE A TRUE DISCIPLE OF CHRIST, DO “YOU” HEAR HIM SPEAK TO “YOU” THROUGH HIS WORD, HIS HOLY SPIRIT WHO “GUIDES YOU INTO ALL TRUTH”, AND THROUGH “YOUR” SCRIPTURAL AND “YOUR” MIND AND HEART-UNDERSTANDING THAT, HAVING REDEEMED YOU BY HIS OWN BLOOD, BOUGHT & FREED YOU FROM SATANIC BONDAGE, POURED INTO YOU HIS HOLY SPIRIT, AND COMMISSIONED YOU TO BE HIS WITNESSES, HIS MESSENGERS TO THE ‘UNSAVED’, YOU ONLY SEE THAT, AS A ‘CHURCH MEMBER’, IT’S THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PREACHERS, EVANGELISTS, AND MISSIONARIES, BUT NOT “YOU”?)

MATTHEW 9:31? “BUT THEY, WHEN THEY WERE DEPARTED, SPREAD ABROAD HIS FAME IN ALL THAT COUNTRY.” OH, BUT THEN LOOK AT MATTHEW 9:35-38, “AND JESUS WENT ABOUT ALL THE CITIES AND VILLAGES, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, AND HEALING EVERY SICKNESS AND EVERY DISEASE AMONG THE PEOPLE. (PAUSE! QUESTION: “DO YOU THINK ‘DISEASE’ INCLUDES “DIS-EASE”, OR TROUBLED, BLINDED, DARKENED BY SIN, CAPTURED BY THE LOVE OF THE WORLD, THE ‘FLESH’, OR DEVILISH, DEMONIC ACTIVITIES?”).VERSES36-38,”BUT WHEN HE SAW THE MULTITUDES, ‘HE’ (JESUS) WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION ON THEM, BECAUSE THEY FAINTED, AND WERE SCATTERED ABROAD, AS SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD.

THEN SAID JESUS UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, “THE HARVEST IS TRULY PLENTEOUS, BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW; PRAY YOU THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST THAT HE WILL SEND LABOURERS INTO HIS HARVEST.”

“SURE TESTS FOR THE BLOOD-REDEEMED IN CHRIST?”

1! “ARE THE BLOOD-REDEEMED IN CHRIST FAITHUL WITNESSES COMMISSIONED BY CHRIST?” IN MATTHEW 28:18-20, JESUS CAME (AND HE STILL COMES!!), SAYING, “ALL POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YOU THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, & OF THE SON, & OF THE HOLY GHOST: TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS, WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU; AND, LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.”

2! “ARE THE BLOOD-REDEEMED ‘OBEDIENT’ SONS AND DAUGHTERS, FOLLOWING THE LORD’S GREAT COMMISSION?” IN ACTS 22, UPON SAUL’S CONVERSION BY CHRIST “SEEING (THE “LIGHT”!), WHO BECAME PAUL, WROTE: VERSES 10-15, SAYING, AND SAUL SAID,”WHAT SHALL I DO, LORD?” AND THE LORD SAID, “I AM JESUS OF NAZARETH, WHOM YOU JEWS PERSECUTE.” AND THEY THAT WERE WITH ME SAW INDEED THE LIGHT, AND WERE AFRAID; BUT THEY HEARD NOT THE VOICE OF HIM THAT SPOKE TO ME.

AND I SAID, “WHAT SHALL I DO, LORD?” AND THE LORD SAID TO ME, “ARISE, AND GO INTO DAMASCUS; AND THERE IS SHALL BE TOLD YOU OF ALL THINGS WHICH ARE APPOINTED FOR YOU TO DO.”- (HAVE “YOU” RECEIVED “YOUR DIVINE APPOINTMENT”?). AND WHEN I COULD NOT SEE FOR THE GLORY OF THAT LIGHT, BEING LED BY THE HAND OF THEM THAT WERE WITH ME, I CAME INTO DAMASCUS.

AND ONE, ANANIAS, A DEVOUT MAN ACCORDING TO THE LAW, HAVING A GOOD REPORT OF ALL THE JEWS WHICH DWELT THERE, CAME UNTO ME, AND STOOD, AND SAID UNTO ME, BROTHER SAUL, RECEIVE YOUR SIGHT. AND THE SAME HOUR I LOOKED UP UPON HIM. AND HE SAID, “THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS HAS CHOSEN YOU, THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW HIS WILL, AND SEE THAT “JUST ONE”, AND SHOULD HEAR THE VOICE OF HIS MOUTH. FOR “YOU” SHALL BE “HIS” WITNESS UNTO ALL MEN OF WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN & HEARD.”

ARE “YOU”, HAVING BEEN SAVED, A “PROCLAIMER OF TRUTH”? WERE “YOU” COMMISSONED BY CHRIST? ARE “YOU”, ACCORDING TO 2 TIMOTHY 2:15, “STUDYING TO SHOW YOURSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDS NOT TO BE ASHAMED, BUT RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH”?

“SURE TESTS FOR THE BLOOD-REDEEMED ‘IN CHRIST’?”

3! “ARE THE BLOOD-REDEEMED “IN CHRIST” THOSE WHO FAITHFULLY ‘PROTECT & PERFECT’ THEIR TESTIMONY OF ‘FAITH IN CHRIST’?” HEAR 2 PETER 3:13-14!! “NEVERTHELESS WE, ACCORDING TO “HIS” PROMISE, LOOK FOR NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH WHEREIN DWELLS RIGHTEOUSNESS. WHEREFORE, BELOVED, BRETHREN, SEEING THAT YOU LOOK FOR SUCH THINGS, BE DILIGENT THAT YOU MAY BE FOUND OF HIM IN PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT OR BLEMISH.”

DO “YOU” WALK IN PARTIAL PURITY SINCE CONVERSION, OR IN THE PURITY OF CHRIST? DO “YOU” WALK IN PARTIAL OBEDIENCE SOME OF THE TIME, OR SOLD OUT TO BE AN OBEDIENT SERVANT OF THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS?

4) “ARE THE BLOOD-REDEEMED “IN CHRIST” THOSE WHO,YES, WALK IN CONFIDENCE & BLESSED ASSURANCE”? IN HEBREWS 3:1 & 6-14 WE FIND CHALLENGING WORDS: 3:1 “WHEREFORE, HOLY BRETHREN, PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY CALLING, CONSIDER THE “APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST” OF OUR ‘PROFESSION’, CHRIST JESUS.”, FOLLOWED BY VERSES 6-14! “CHRIST AS A SON OVER “HIS” OWN HOUSE;WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE “IF” WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE AND THE REJOICING OF THE HOPE FIRM TO THE END. WHEREFOR (AS THE HOLY SPIRIT SAYS, ‘TODAY IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE,

HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN THE PROVOCATION, IN THE DAY OF TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS: WHEN YOUR FATHERS TEMPTED ME, AND SAW MY WORKS FORTY YEARS. WHEREFORE I WAS GRIEVED WITH THAT GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY DO ALWAYS ERR IN THEIR HEART; AND THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN “MY”WAYS. SO I SWORE IN MY WRATH, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER INTO MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER INTO MY REST.)

TAKE HEED,BRETHREN, LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, IN DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD. BUT EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY, WHILE IT IS CALLED “TODAY”; LEST ANY OF YOU (BELIEVERS) BE HARDENED THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. FOR WE ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST, IF WE HOLD THE BEGINNING OF OUR CONFIDENCE STEDFAST UNTO THE END.”

IN THE OLD “AMERICAN HYMNAL”, PUBLISHED IN 1933, (BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.),P.21, IS A HYMN ENTITLED, “HAIL, JESUS ONCE DESPISED”,SAYING, “HAIL, YOU ONCE DESPISED JESUS! HAIL, YOU GALILEAN KING! YOU SUFFERED TO RELEASE US; YOU DID FREE SALVATION BRING.

HAIL, YOU AGONIZING SAVIOR, BEARER OF OUR SIN AND SHAME! BY YOUR MERITS WE FIND FAVOR; LIFE IS GIVEN THRO’ YOUR NAME.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“A CHURCH’S, A PASTOR’S, A DISCIPLE’S MINISTRY TO A LOST, NEEDY, SINFUL WORLD”

VERY ‘WEIGHTY,CONVICTING VERSES’ RESIDES IN JAMES I:26-27 WHERE THE BROTHER OF JESUS, JAMES, WROTE: “IF ANY MAN AMONG YOU,SEEM TO BE RELIGIOUS, AND BRIDLES NOT HIS TONGUE, BUT DECEIVES HIS OWN HEART, THIS MAN’S RELIGION IS VAIN. PURE RELIGION AND UNDEFILED BEFORE GOD AND THE FATHER IS THIS,..

TO VISIT THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION, AND TO KEEP HIMSELF UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD.” THE BROTHER OF JESUS SAW A GREAT NEED, ‘THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION.’ THANK GOD FOR JAMES BECAUSE “HE SAW” A GREAT NEED AND INSTRUCTED DISCIPLES AROUND HIM TO MEET THAT NEED! BUT IS THAT ALL THAT A CHURCH, A PASTOR, OR A DISCIPLE IS CALLED TO DO? “I DON’T THINK SO! I KNOW IT’S NOT ALL! DID JAMES REALLY SAY: “TRUE DISCIPLES ARE TO KEEP THEMSELVES UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD”?

BUT MULTITUDES ACROSS AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD WILL IGNORE “BLOOD ATONEMENT THRU’ CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION, IGNORE HIS RESURRECTION, DENY HIS PROMISE, “OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART AND I WILL COME IN!” BUT RATHER THAN REPENTING, INVITING JESUS IN, LETTING THE “HISTORIC CHRIST” BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU, MOST PROFESSORS OF FAITH IN CHRIST ‘PROFESS’ BUT THEY WANT ‘CHURCH MEMBERSHIP’ APART FROM “NEW BIRTH”!

IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 PAUL WROTE: “ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE MADE PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED IN ALL GOOD WORKS.” WHAT POWERFUL, CONVICTING, INSTRUCTIVE WORDS OF GOD TO EVERY DISCIPLE!

THE CONVERTED, POWERFUL, NATURAL FISHERMAN AND SPIRITUAL FISHERMAN,SIMON PETER, WROTE IN 2 PETER 1,FIRST,VERSES 3-4, “ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS, “THROUGH” THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST WHO HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE: AND, WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES: THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT “BE” PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST”!

READ IN YOUR OWN BIBLE VERSES 5-7 BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING THE FOLLOWING, VERSES 8-11, WHEN PETER,YES, ALSO INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WROTE: “FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, AND ABOUND,THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BUT HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, AND CANNOT SEE AFAR OFF, AND HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS.

WHEREFORE THE RATHER,BRETHREN,GIVE DILIGENCE,TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE; FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.”

I’M SORRY IF IT ‘BOTHERS’ YOU THAT I SHARE SO MUCH SCRIPTURE WITH YOU, BUT I’M FULLY CONVINCED THAT YOU NEED GOD’S TRUTH MORE THAN MY THOUGHTS!

WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO READ IS GOD’S HOLY CALLING TO FAITHFUL DISCIPLES TO, YES, BE MISSION-MINDED MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD LITERALLY AND FAITHFULLY LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE IF NECESSARY TO SHARE THE EVANGELISTIC TRUTH OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE WORLD THROUGH HIS SACRIFICE OF HIS SON! AND YOU?

SO…IN 1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-31 WE READ EVERY TRUE DISCIPLE’S CALLING AND LIFE-IN-CHRIST’S MISSION AND MINISTRY!! IT SAYS: “FOR CHRIST SENT ME NOT TO BAPTIZE, BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL: NOT WITH WISDOM OF WORDS, LEST THE CROSS OF CHRIST SHOULD BE MADE OF NO EFFECT. FOR THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO US WHO ARE ‘BEING’ SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.

FOR IT IS WRITTEN, I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND WILL BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT. WHERE IS THE WISE?WHERE IS THE SCRIBE?WHERE IS THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD?HAS NOT GOD MADE FOOLISH THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD?” (‘THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD’? THAT’S MEN WHO BELIEVE THE WORLD WAS MADE ‘FOR THEM’, NOT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE!).

VERSES 21-31 FOLLOWS: “FOR AFTER THAT IN THE WISDOM OF GOD THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD, IT PLEASED GOD BY THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE. FOR THE JEWS REQUIRE A SIGN, AND THE GREEKS SEEK AFTER WISDOM:(LET ME PAUSE &SAY,“FOOLISH AMERICANS, ASIANS,AFRICANS,EUROPEANS”?),VERSES 23-31!BUT WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, UNTO THE JEWS A STUMBLING BLOCK, AND UNTO THE GREEKS FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO THEM WHICH ‘ARE CALLED’, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS, CHRIST,THE POWER OF GOD,AND THE WISDOM OF GOD.

BECAUSE THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD IS WISER THAN MEN; AND THE WEAKNESS OF GOD IS STRONGER THAN MEN. FOR YOU SEE YOUR CALLING,BRETHREN,HOW THAT NOT MANY WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH, NOT MANY MIGHTY, NOT MANY NOBLE, ARE CALLED;

BUT GOD HAS CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE; AND GOD HAS CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE THINGS WHICH ARE MIGHTY; AND BASE THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THINGS WHICH ARE DESPISED, HAS GOD CHOSEN,YES, AND THINGS WHICH ARE NOT, TO BRING TO NOTHING THINGS THAT ARE:THAT NO FLESH (OR OLD ‘SIN NATURE’) SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE. (YOU’RE AWARE,MAYBE,THAT EVERY BELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN,AND EVERY UNBELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN, WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF HOLY GOD TO EXPLAIN TO HIM ONE’S LACK OF FAITH OR ONE’S FULL TRUST IN THE BLOOD REDEMPTION SACRIFICE OF KING JESUS!!).

VERSES 30-31, “BUT OF HIM ARE “YOU” IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD (GET READY FOR THE FOLLOWING!!), “YOU IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD IS MADE UNTO US (HIS) WISDOM, AND (HIS) RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND (HIS)SANCTIFICATION, AND (HIS) REDEMPTION: THAT, ACCORDING AS IT IS WRITTEN, “HE THAT GLORIES (IN LIFE’S JOURNEY), LET HIM/HER GLORY IN THE LORD”!!!

B.B.MCKINNEY,IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” OF 1940 (COPYRIGHTED BY BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE,TENN.)WROTE THE HYMN “HE LIVES ON HIGH”(P.336) THAT SAYS: “CHRIST THE SAVIOR CAME FROM HEAVEN’S GLORY,TO REDEEM THE LOST FROM SIN AND SHAME; ON HIS BROW HE WORE THE THORN-CROWN GORY, AND UPON CALVARY HE TOOK MY BLAME.

HE AROSE FROM DEATH AND ALL ITS SORROW, TO DWELL IN THAT ‘LAND OF JOY AND LOVE’; HE IS COMING BACK SOME GLAD TOMORROW, AND HE’LL TAKE ALL HIS CHILDREN HOME ABOVE.

WEARY SOUL, TO JESUS COME CONFESSING, REDEMPTION FROM SIN HE OFFERS THEE; LOOK TO JESUS AND (SURRENDER?) AND RECEIVE A BLESSING, THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS JOY AND VICTORY .”

DO “YOU” UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS “VICTORY IN JESUS” OVER THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH, A GOD-ORDAINED LAW? DOESN’T ROMANS 3:23 TELL US:”FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD”? DARE I SAY IT? BELIEVE I WILL! “ARE YOU AWARE THAT SOME ‘PROFESSING BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, CHURCH MEMBERS’, SINCERELY BELIEVE THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL JESUS COMES THE SECOND TIME?” JESUS “CAME” AND HE STAYS IN THE HEARTS OF TRUE BELIEVERS, EXPRESSING HIMSELF,EXTENDING HIS LOVE, & PROVING HIS POWER – AND HE DOES IT, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS, CONVICTING, CONVERTING, TRANSFORMING,ESTABLISHING ANOTHER “TEMPLE” IN WHICH HE RESIDES, REMAINS, AND REACHES OUT THROUGH THEM TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM RULE IN MANY MORE HEARTS AND LIVES!

OH, THEN IN ROMANS 5:5 PAUL WROTE: “HOPE MAKES YOU NOT ASHAMED (ANY LONGER!MY TWO WORDS!); BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS GOD’S GIFT TO ALL TRUE BELIEVERS!!”

BUT YOU ARE AWARE OUR KNOWN WORLD IS ALSO FILLED WITH “RELIGIOUS SUBSTITUTIONS”, ‘THAT’ IN AND THROUGH WHICH RELIGIOUSLY DECEIVED MINDS WILL EXERCISE THEIR ‘REIGIOUS FEELINGS’ APART FROM CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, APART FROM CONVERTED TO “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” AND UPON CONVERSION, IN-FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND COMMISSIONED AS HIS “ROYAL AMBASSADORS”!

SO MANY CHOOSE NOTHING BUT “ME, MY, AND MINE”,OR SOME WILL ‘UNITE’ WITH, ‘LIAR-OLOGY’, ‘MYTH-OLOGY’, ‘FLESH-OLOGY’, ‘WORLD-RELIGIONS’ THEOLOGIES, ‘SELF-ORDAINED THEOLOGY’ – CHOOSING ‘MY CHOICE IS BETTER THAN GOD’S CHOICE, YOUR CHURCH’S CHOICE, OR THE FALSE CHOICES OF OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS’! “AS FOR ME? I’LL TRY TO BE THE BEST RELIGION-PARTICIPANT I CAN BE!” REALLY?

BUT IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-12 PAUL ENLIGHTENS US EVEN MORE AS HE WROTE: “AND LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE, THROUGH THE ABUNDANCE OF “REVELATIONS GIVEN TO ME”, THERE WAS GIVEN TO ME A THORN IN THE FLESH, THE MESSENGER OF SATAN TO BUFFET ME, LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE. FOR THIS THING, I BESOUGHT THE LORD THRICE, THAT IT MIGHT DEPART FROM ME. AND HE SAID UNTO ME, “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU: FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.

MOST GLADLY THEREFORE WILL I RATHER GLORY IN MY INFIRMITIES, THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. THEREFORE I TAKE PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES, IN REPROACHES, IN NECESSITIES, IN PERSECUTIONS, IN DISTRESSES FOR CHRIST’S SAKE: FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN AM I STRONG.” WHY? BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PROFESS THROUGH “BEST EFFORT” BUT “RESTS” IN JESUS’S BEST, & BECAUSE YOU “DIE DAILY THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH.”

IT’S TIME FOR YOU AS A ‘PROFESSING DISCIPLE’ TO ALLOW JESUS TO POSSESS YOUR BODY, HEART, AND MIND THROUGH WHICH HE LIVES OUT HIMSELF THROUGH YOU TO TOUCH THE WORLD AROUND YOU WITH HIS MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE.

I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE FROM ANOTHER HYMN OUT OF THE BROADMAN HYMNAL, THE HYMNAL I QUOTED FROM EARLIER, BUT HERE IT’S A HYMN (P340)BY P.P.BLISS THAT SAYS:

“FREE FROM THE LAW (THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH?),O HAPPY CONDITION, JESUS HAS BLED, AND THERE IS REMISSION; CURSED BY THE LAW AND BRUISED BY THE FLL, GRACE HAS REDEEMED US ONCE FOR ALL.

NOW ARE WE FREE – THERE’S NO CONDEMNATION, JESUS PROVIDES A PERFECT SALVATION; “COME UNTO ME”, O HEAR HIS SWEET CALL, COME, AND HE SAVES US ONCE FOR ALL.

“CHILDREN OF GOD”, O glorious calling, surely his grace will keep us from Falling; passing from death to life at his call, blessed salvation once for all.

Once for all, O sinner, receive it; once for all,O brother, believe it; cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us once for all.”

AT THE ETERNAL THRONE OF JUDGMENT AS GOD EXAMINES “YOU”, WILL IT BE, “I TRIED MY BEST”, OR: “I TRULY, WHOLE-HEARTEDILY, ONCE FOR HIM ONLY DO I “REST” THROUGH CHRIST’S DEATH, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, HIS REIGN IN ME, REJOICING DAILY IN HOPE!

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“THE JOY OF A HOLY HOPE!”

It’s so interesting, convicting, and illuminating to read the Book of Job, seeing the extremes of serious doubts and unbeliefs, but then to see a man coming into the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There was a time period of doubts, fears, and unbelief, but by the grace and mercy and love of God Job became an overcomer, victorious through God’s faithful pursuit of his soul! In Job 42:5 we read Job saying to the Lord, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You!” Verse 10 says, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

In Job 31 Job highlighted the fatal, false steps of unbelievers who choose the ‘flesh walk’ totally void of the Spirit’s blessing, hearts ‘deceived’ and ending up experiencing ‘the consuming fire’, inheriting a consuming destruction, and rewarding one with spiritual bankruptcy eternally! I don’t know who said it, but I read in the “Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations”, (p.231), the following statement: “Life with Christ is an endless hope, without Him a hopeless end.” So very, very true! But there are many who refuse to answer God’s knock at their hearts’ doors, willfully, ignorantly slamming the heart’s doors when the Savior knocks!

“The Joy of The Holy Hope” but you choose a ‘faithless life’ that without Christ dissipates into a coveted state of eternal captivity under the control of the demons of Hell and Satan accepting you as their and his forever slave in darkness forever, separated from King Jesus and the Holy Father and the Holy Spirit who so desired to “guide you in all eternal Truth”? One never comes into the blessed state of life who never truly trusts in the eternal redemptive hope found in Christ’s crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension to the eternal throne of God patiently waiting for the full increase of redeeming grace manifested in the minds and hearts of all born-again-‘faithers’!!

As I write this truth I do so just a few weeks AFTER!! I’m sure if you’ve attended any churches you found some singing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem, The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” – And that’s about the celebration of the birth of Christ who came to “set the captives free” through His sacrificial death, His Resurrection, His present reign at the right-hand throne of God, and ‘His resting men and women’ who, yes, let Christ in them BE their hope of eternal glory!

Dare I say it? Believe I will! “Lost eternal hope is the fainting, falling, faithless life that “play-acts” life’s purpose as he, she refuses to answer Christ’s “knock” at their heart’s door!”

Are you aware that there are, sadly, multitudes world-wide who, yes, choose to live in a darkened, gray, indeterminate world of spiritual unbelief, no mindful consideration of revealed truth, no “fix” on eternal spiritual Truth, and, for them, absolutely no consideration of anything the Holy Spirit, God the Father, or Christ Jesus has to say, and certainly, for many, no consideration of anything Christians or churches have to say?!?

“Christ in you the hope of glory”? Yet multitudes live their lives independent of Holy God and His “Holy Hope”, living lives in “false hopes”, not lives established on the eternal Truths spoken by God! Multitudes ignore God’s holy knock on their hearts’ doors, certain in themselves but uncertain about heavenly help! Are YOU living your life on uncertain foundations? Consider several uncertainties!

One, consider the uncertainty of one’s trust in his/her conception of true beauty! Psalm 39:11 says, “When you with rebukes correct a man for iniquity, you make his beauty to consume away like a moth; surely every man (without God in Christ as his/her Savior and Lord) IS VANITY!”

Two, consider the shallowness of fleshly trust in men! Psalm 146:3 clearly says, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help,” but put your trust only in God’s promises! How clear to you is 2 Corinthians 1:20? “All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are ‘yes’, and in Him “AMEN”, unto the glory of God.”

Three, consider the ‘fleshly pride’ in one’s self-allegiance that has no room for “trust in the finished work of Christ alone at Calvary”! In 2 Corinthians 1:9 Paul the Apostle said, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.” Men who are ‘fleshly alive’ and ‘preeminently alive’ in themselves exchange a false identity God never desired for them to be deceived in, and even for the ‘fool’, he says, “There is no God”, when forever and ever the Resurrected Lord and Savior reigns and keeps on reigning to the Father’s glory, honor, and praise!

Four, examine the reality of the troubling tombs of godless lives, yes, men/women, boys and girls, with “darkened hearts, warped wits, and worldly wills”, because there is eternal difference between ‘fleshly darkness’ and Christ Jesus God’s “Eternal Spiritual Light”!

Fifth, in 1 Thessalonians 2, Verses 4-13 we learn about our “calling” by Christ into His eternal Kingdom! Paul wrote: “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which tries our hearts. Foe neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, whom we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear to us.

For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail; for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:

As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children, That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto His kingdom and His glory. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.”

Dare I say it? Simply mental belief apart from full surrender to the Lordship of Christ with His “gift” of resurrection presence, eternal forgiveness, and new life, new purpose, new power, and new privilege, IS ‘head knowledge’ absent of a “new heart”! And that end result? Religious activities with open doors to Satan’s realm of deception rather than “kingdom allegiance” under the Banner of the Resurrected, Reigning, Royal King of kings and Lord of lords!

But because of grace that leads one to faith, as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:13-15, we “gird up the loins of our minds, being sober (eternally seriously minded!!), and hoping to the end for the grace that is to be brought to us as Christ is revealed in us, As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in our ignorance; But as He which called us IS HOLY, so you be holy in all manner of conversation or your walk through the journey of your earthly pilgrimage with Christ as your Lord, your Savior, and your guardian presence with Christ in you!!

Do YOU truly have the spiritual understanding of reconciliation to Holy God in and through the blood sacrifice of Christ and His victorious resurrection, now continuing to reign at the right hand Throne of Holy God, yet telling us He also makes the redeemed heart His place of earthly residence? Do you daily take the sentence of death to your old man in order for the Resurrected, Reigning Christ to be Himself in you and through you?

Hear me! Living without “Christ in you” as Savior and Lord is to be a life residing in abiding, hellish darkness, not freed into the “Light” of Resurrection Presence!

I truly love what John Wesley wrote in his writing entitled “Christian Perfection”! Wesley said, “The holiest of men still need Christ as their Prophet, as “the light of the world.” For He does not give them light but from moment to moment; the instant He withdraws, all is darkness. They still need Christ as their King, for God does not give them a stock of holiness. But unless they receive a supply every moment, nothing but unholiness would remain. They still need Christ as their Priest, to make atonement for their holy things. Even perfect holiness is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ.”

Much of modern-day ‘Christianity’ is based upon misdirected curiosity but with limited inquiry totally short of, yes, the divine revelation! Reject the mystery of Christ’s existence, or look upon Him as only a historic person and riddle of a past life short-lived for only about 33 years, and the mixed mess of examining Christ Jesus sadly surfaces for some as only an “inexplicable riddle”!

SO…what does one do with John 3:16? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes (or Trusts) in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Blaise Pascal once said, “Jesus Christ is God to whom we can approach without pride, and before whom we may abase ourselves without despair.” Why? How? Because we understand through the revelation of God’s Holy Word that “all sinners were crucified with Christ on His Cross, buried with Him in His grave, but raised with Him through God’s power, released in us by, yes, our God-given faith and heart-led repentance, new-born, then filled with the Holy Spirit, and commissioned as His royal ambassadors! YES! We willfully crown Him in our hearts as “Lord of all”, you and me included because He called us, convicted us, converted us, anointed us, and declared us as His chosen, adoptive children in the Holy Family of God!!

Is it any wonder to you that “in Christ”, through the gifts of repentance and faith, that guided by the Holy Spirit you live royally blessed with the whole treasury that flows out of God’s heart, through His throne, through His Son, and, yes, through His born-again, new-birthed sons and daughters as the richness of His grace abounds, His graciousness embraces the true child of faith, and continues from one’s spiritual birth, to enrich their lives of faith with Heaven’s treasures??

Hear me! The Christian faith is not an intellectual theory or a self-centered speculation – it IS Christ’s Resurrection Presence living in the repentant heart and life resting in His promises! I grew up from early childhood of my home church in Cleveland, Tennessee, singing from the very old “American Hymnal” the hymn by R. Kelso Carter entitled “Standing On the Promises”, but you do know that far too many ‘professing Christians’ just “Sit On The Premises”, mindless of Christ’s intent of a repentant heart and faith-captured life becoming the Temple of His Holy Presence, yes, Christ in you, through you, as you daily take the sentence of death to yourself so that He might reign through you, extending His life, expressing His love, and proving His power! The Hymn?

“Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro’ eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call, Resting in my Savior, as my all in all, standing on the promises of God.”

ARE YOU STANDING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD? The “Promises” are Merciful God’s “Creative Providence” in action, in you, for all around you to discover the Christ in you which can be their hope of eternal life, eternal rest, and eternal “Victory In Jesus”!! AMEN?

Once an outcast – but in Christ NOW a son or daughter in His redeemed, blood-bought family! Once living in darkness – but NOW living in the “Light” of His abiding Presence!

Once separated from God – but Christ’s coming, Christ’s Cross, Christ’s empty tomb, Christ’s “faithful knocking” at the hearts doors of all redeemed sons and daughters, Christ’s abiding presence and His constant, personal persuasion, blessedly favors us not to rest in “best effort, human trying” but trusting His Word: “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you”!!

In the old “American Hymnal” published in 1933 by the editor, Robert H. Colman, written by Fanny J. Crosby and W.H. Doane, is the hymn “Safe In The Arms of Jesus.” It says: “Safe in the arms of Jesus, There by His love overshadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest. Hark! It’s the voice of angels, Borne in a song to me, Over the fields of glory, Over the jasper sea…Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, There by His love overshadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest.” Amen? Are YOU “Safe In The Arms of Jesus”? Proverbs 29:25 states, “The fear of man brings a snare; but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe,” followed by Verse 26 which says, “Many seek the ruler’s favor; but every man’s judgment comes from the Lord.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“CARE OF THE CARNAL MIND OR CARE OF THE SPIRITUAL SOUL?”

Is a ‘carnal mind’ the merely human effort of one’s ‘best’ at discerning for himself/herself what one is looking for in life because there is in ‘fallen flesh’ no desire to know what Holy God is up to concerning one’s earthly purpose? I don’t think there is any doubt about that!

Many of the lives birthed in our modern world are strictly ‘fleshly’ in orientation without any consideration of God’s eternal purpose of men willfully choosing their lives as “vessels” of His divine Presence and extensions through them to amazingly touch the world around them with His mercy, grace, and love! They’re “busy” about the “care of the carnal mind” and all it supposes or proposes or imposes!

If there are great, spiritual events in one’s ‘carnal mind’, “it’s all ‘circumstantial’, not providential”, they think! And if anything “great” occurs, it’s from the ‘heart-spring’ of personal initiative not Holy intent! If “dark doors” are before them, carnal minded men ‘might’ say, “Well, that must come from lower powers out of hell”, never sensing ‘godlessness’ is fertile ground for demonic activity without God’s protection against the powers of darkness because they have no intent of being dependent upon Holy God for anything in their fleshly nature since they’re perfectly capable of taking care of themselves!

Natural-minded men are blinded concerning “the lusts of the flesh, the lies of Satan, or the blinded deceits of a world population”! How many ‘natural men’ do you know who discern Holy God as the Author, Creator, and Celebrator of His world, its purpose ordained in Him, and His power and love seeing it come to full fruition in His timing? “God’s on His throne, and all is right in His world?” How many do you know who discern THAT for themselves?

How much of the comprehension of, at least, the care of the carnal mind relates to ‘fleshly comfort’, ‘earthly success’, or a ‘worldly dream or ambition’, imprinted by only ‘self-relevance’ independent of Holy God? Do you even think the masses of earthly-minded men controlled by ‘self-intent’ even care about what Holy God thinks? Personal pride “in my potential” is the ‘self-strutting peacock’ more proud of his ‘feathers’ than his Creator!

Oh, but then, there are the ‘religiously proud’ through the ages, like William Warburton, Bishop of Glouchester, that Charles Churchill wrote about in his article entitled “Independence”: “He was so proud that should he meet the Twelve Apostles in the street he’d turn his nose up at them all and shove his Savior from the wall.” I’d call that “The pride that captured Satan and shamed the ‘fallen angels’!

The cultivation of the mind void of the desire and intent of Holy God is like an automobile without an engine, or birds without wings, or, yes, human populations void of the awareness that the Creator-God came, birthed by the Virgin Mary, sacrificed His own Life on the Cross in “Blood Redemption”, but they continue ignoring Biblical History, just blindly trying to find their way without any consideration why Holy God sent His Son or why, under the Sovereign Administration of Holy God, “Why am I here?”!!

Is it possible that “the care of the carnal mind” rules over many because its finiteness has its own self-imposed limits, and one in that phase of existence only has no interest in God’s boundless, limitless, exceedingly great and unending infinite mercy and grace, especially if it costs them their independence, “if your God expects ME to obey Him”? And, is it possible, that to the extreme, there are those human beings, to the extreme point of pain, troubles, heartaches, despair, troubles, unhappiness, loneliness in the ‘inner man’, strongly twisted together to the point they come to the place to say to themselves, “Not even God cares about me”?

“Care of the carnal mind”? Could such devotion to ‘flesh’, to the ‘temporary’, to the ‘world scene’, to ‘human achievement’ without any need or even a ‘thought’ about God, or a ‘thought’ about the Savior, or a ‘thought’ about ETERNITY and one’s role in it, become so dominate one ends up ‘poverty stricken’ rather than “rich” in the Savior’s love? It’s not an accountant’s ‘ledger’ that will reveal what has the human heart, mind, and soul, because the “kingdom of God’ is not based on men’s bank accounts, investments, stock dividends, royalties, but the eternal reality of ONENESS with the Savior, Master, and True Lord of life that blesses and blesses and blesses, and keeps on blessing ! The richest man in the whole world, past, present, and future, is not the man with huge stocks, bonds, or bank accounts, but the man rich in redemptive faith, the recipient of a transformed life and new heart, and the man entrusted with Heaven’s Good News”, the Gospel, gain, and grip of King Jesus on his heart and mind, and HE’S NOT ASHAMED OF IT!

Will Carleton, in “The Ancient Miner’s Story”, wrote: “But I have learned a thing or two; I know as sure as fate, When we lock up our lives for wealth, the gold key comes too late.” One wonders if the ‘ancient miner’ ever knew or had any inkling at all about “true wealth” that only comes, lastingly, in one’s oneness in Christ alone as Lord, Savior, and the Master of, yes, Eternal Life!

Paul wrote challenging, enlightening words in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5, so ‘eternal-life-instructing’! He said: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

“Temporary”? Does that mean not permanent to you or those around you? Does temporary mean I don’t have to be serious about my ‘present’, though my ‘present’ may be the key to what Door or door I walk through as ‘eternity’ calls my name? Some have never even considered that the ‘temporary’ IS only a stepping stone toward the ‘eternal’, blessed or unblessed, good or bad, fleshly or spiritual, Satanic or Master-Jesus oriented – it seldom enters some minds, though they see themselves as a very ‘profound person’. “I operate on ‘common sense’, not like those Christians who talk about ‘spiritual sensitivity’ to the things of God and obedience to what He reveals – not me!”

“Temporary”? “The sower sows the word.” That’s Christ Jesus speaking in Mark 4:13-20, and He’s explaining “cares of the carnal minds” AND “the care of the Spiritually-Re-born Soul in oneness with Christ”! Jesus said: “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear Satan COMES IMMEDIATELY and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have NO ROOT IN THEMSELVES, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. BUT these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Is the word of God being sown by the wayside of the earthly population on any and every continent of our world? It’s happening! But is it received by every citizen of all nations? Of course not! “Few there be who find it,” Jesus said, but, yes, there are those who hear, receive, repent, and obey, yielding themselves to the Lordship of Christ!

And, receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of some lives in some countries has cost them their lives – having traveled to India and other countries in Asia, I knew those who became ‘martyrs for the faith’! But, with Paul, (Acts 20:21), they were willing “to testify…repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”, even if persecuted or killed!

There was a particular time when in Madras, India, I was preaching on the streets before my conference there started, when two young men confronted me, threatening me that if I came back tomorrow, they would come and kill me. I told them of the time and place where I would be preaching the next day. When the time came, our church musicians were singing, but my translator, Pastor Anand, came and said, “If you’re going to preach, you better do it now, because there are ten to twelve men close by headed this way, each one carrying a machete. I preached, prayed, extended an invitation to trust Christ, and when I finished my prayer, I saw the two ‘mob leaders’ on their knees before me. They prayed to receive Christ, and were baptized by Pastor Anand and became a part of his local church!

Yes, there are those who hear the word, accept it, repent, are baptized, and begin to bear the fruit of the Indwelling Christ! And there MUST BE “the care of spiritual souls”! In Matthew 18:2-5 Jesus said: Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”

And, in the care of spiritual souls, I’m sure there are those who endorse ‘sinning’ as THE option every believer has, even if Christ Jesus Himself said: “Go and sin no more”! What does Matthew 18:6 tell us, again, Jesus speaking? “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea!”

The evidence that a man or woman, boy or girl, has been delivered FROM SIN is their sorrowful heart over what their sin nature cost Christ on the cruel Cross! And they have no desire to shame the “Blood Atonement” but to live only the overcoming life in and through Christ’s Resurrected Presence within them – they die daily to themselves and the old sin nature that Christ may be honored through them! In 1 John 1:7 the beloved John wrote: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.”

In his book “My Utmost For His Highest,” Oswald chambers wrote: “If I walk in the light as God is in the light, not in the light of my conscience, but in the light of God – if I walk there, with nothing folded up, then there comes the amazing revelation, the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin so that God Almighty can see nothing to censure in me. In my consciousness it works with a keen poignant knowledge of what sin is. The love of God at work in me makes me hate with the hatred of the Holy Ghost all that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To walk in the light means that everything that is of the darkness drives me closer into the center of the light.”

Do you believe Jesus when He said, “And, lo, I am with you always…”, and because of His promise one can sin if he/she chooses? Walking with Him in one’s spiritual pilgrimage day by day, feeding daily on His Word, relying upon the Holy Spirit to guide us only in the way that honors Christ, does not open a door of ‘fleshly choices’ to do as I please, even sinning if I can’t help it. Where does that come from? What “strange gospel” is it that grants “do as you please if you since a desire to sin – Jesus understands.” No! He doesn’t understand ‘flesh’ ever choosing consenting to sin if He’s Captain of one’s Ship of Faith and Obedience! He’s given you the Holy Spirit to “guide you into all truth”, not to concur with your desire to do as you please!

In “The Pastor’s Guide to Effective Ministry”, (Edited by William H. Willimon, Beacon Hill Press, 2002), there’s a powerful word from the Puritan Thomas Watson. He said: “The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God. “When I awake, I am still with Thee” (Psalm 139:18). The thoughts are as travelers in the mind. David’s thoughts kept heaven-road. “I am still with Thee.” God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart. By this way we may test our love of God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think upon God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory?…A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner (guilty prisoner) thinks of the judge.”

Revelation 5 speaks of “The Worthy Lamb of God”, with Revelation 5:12 and Verse 13 saying: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing” with Verse 13 following: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Would YOU dare say that’s your hymn of praise to the Reigning Christ in your life because your “Life-Walk” IS testimony He has inspired to “the caring of your redeemed soul” honoring Him daily?

Rev.E.A.Hoffman and Rev.J.H.Stockton, in the “American Hymnal” of the early 1930’s wrote a hymn entitled “Glory To His Name.” It says: “Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name.

I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within, There at the cross where He took me in; Glory to His name.

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in; There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean; Glory to His name.

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet; Cast your poor soul at the Savior’s feet; Plunge in today, and be made complete; Glory to His name.

Glory to His name, Glory to His name; There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name.”

Do YOU sing the “Glory Song” to Jesus because He applied His shed Calvary blood to redeem you from your bondage in sin? It’s time – there is no promise of ‘tomorrow’! Romans 15:13 declares: “NOW may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ARE YOU A SPIRIT-FILLED DISCIPLE ABOUNDING IN ETERNAL HOPE IN JESUS?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

‘PLAYED FOR THE FOOL’ OR “PURCHASED BY GOD”?

Beyond the shadow of any fleshly doubt is the reality that there is not a man or woman who has ever lived without an awareness of the presence of God, even if it’s only the acknowledgement He HAS KNOCKED ON THEIR HEART’S DOOR! AND, IF HOLY GOD BIRTHED MANKIND WITH AN AWARENESS OF HIM, what is it that blinds one to what he/she already knows? Would you be bold enough, truthful enough, to admit, though now you deny Him, that you have been possessed and over-run by a strong spirit of “natural individuality” that says, “For me, NO NEED OF GOD”? Could it be ‘deceived by Satan’?

“No need of God?” Psalm 14:1 clearly declares, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” But, at least for true believers, understanding spiritual identity as ‘new-born sons and daughters of God’, one is aware of the warfare that does exist in the unbeliever’s heart as one truly ‘deceived by the powers of darkness’! Most unbelievers being ‘played by the powers of darkness’ as “fools” are blinded to, yes, the grace and mercy and love of God as “new-born sons and daughters by the Holy Spirit”, having been “crucified with Christ”, old sin-natures done away with, with Satan and his demons telling folks, “That’s just impossible – natural sin-natures done away with and Resurrection Life manifested in you? Impossible! Be satisfied with your sin-nature; God will still love you.” Really?

In Galatians 2:17-21 Paul illumines the “crucified life” that has now been “justified” by Christ’s death on the Cross. He wrote: But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh (the old man!) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” WHAT AN AWESOME, LIBERATING, CHRIST-HONORING WORD!

Yet the fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Really? In Exodus 5:1-2 the Word tells us, Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh (of Egypt), “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’

And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” He bought his personal ticket to the eternal Hell, choosing separation from Him as his personal choice.

Yet how many unbelievers do you know who live casually, comfortably, supposedly convinced “life without your God and His Son is a life I choose that is superior and more satisfying than your walk as a disciple of Christ”! There is a spiritual war related to the true saving of souls in and through Christ only, but the spirit of a darkened world, the independence of a self-sufficient soul, and the vainness of a proud ‘self-made man’ pumped up by Satan and his demons deceives the minds of many of “no need of faith in your ‘saving’ God – we’re sufficient in ourselves”!

But in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 the Apostle Paul wrote: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Know anyone exalting himself/herself against the knowledge of God?

Yes, many are “played for the fool” by Satan, demonic forces, the world spirit, and a strong, self-independent, soul existing life, they think, with no need of merciful God! Yes, though many are “played for the fool” by Satan, at the same time there ARE multitudes who understand that “in Christ” one no longer has to be enslaved to the old sin nature because, by His “blood-purchase” Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death, freed us from the world’s deceitful bondage and slavery, and, yes, freed us from the chains of fleshly death into the ‘Kingdom-Crown of liberty, freedom, and the peace that passes all understanding – through the “Lamb’s Blood” we were washed, birthed, and indwelt with the fullness of the blessing of His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!

Through His “blood purchase” we were delivered from bondage to WALK IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE, to WALK IN OUR NEW IDENTITY, and to WALK EMPOWERED BY THE MIGHTY HOLY SPIRIT AND OUR TRUST AND OBEDIENCE TO HIS ETERNAL WORD! YES, “IN CHRIST” WE “BRING EVERY THOUGHT INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST”! WE “quit trying” and learned “to trust His ever faithful Word and His abiding Presence in us being Himself through us to honor, glorify, and BE the LIFE” THAT HONORS MERCIFUL, LOVING, COMPASSIONATE, ENABLING GOD!!

Yet, still, many ‘believers’, many ‘followers of Christ’, many ‘disciples’, have those ‘lapse moments’, having, yes, sinned then doubted whether they can ever again see themselves as sons or daughters of Holy God, living in immense frustration with the ‘old self’ blinding, clouding out, or thinking they’ve lost their identity as a true servant of Christ Jesus! Dare I tell you? Believe I will!

IF GOD BIRTHED YOU INTO HIS KINGDOM, IF ONE ‘STEPS AWAY’ IN A MOMENT OF SELF-INDULGENCE, DOES “FATHER-GOD” DISOWN A CHILD OF FAITH, BECAUSE IN A MOMENT OF IMMATURE, CHILDISH ABANDONMENT, HOLY GOD WRITES THEM OFF AS UNWORTHY, NOT TRUST-WORTHY ENOUGH TO BE CALLED HIS SON OR DAUGHTER ANY LONGER? SATAN WILL TELL YOU THAT – BUT NOT YOUR LOVING FATHER!

There was a time in Paul the Apostle’s life when in the ‘present tense’ he called himself ‘a miserable man’, and that was a time period in his life as merciful God was pouring the Word through him, yet he KNEW those ‘moments’ he’d strayed away – but he learned, “God wouldn’t let me go where I foolishly had chosen to walk for a time, but held on to me, and wouldn’t let me go”!

Holy God uses ‘life-walk-failures-as-disciples’ TO BE MOMENTS OF ETERNAL EDUCATION IN THE MERCY, LOVE, AND GRACE OF GOD! Receive Paul’s inspired testimony in Romans 7:21-8:14!! “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, THE ONE WHO WILLS TO DO GOOD. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I THANK GOD – THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 8:1-14 follows: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (New Covenant!) has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors –not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” How SPIRITUALLY CLEAR IS THAT TO YOU?

“Led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God?” Sons of God, birthed by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, guided by the Spirit, gifted by the Spirit, are blessed with “the glorious liberty of the children of God”, no longer pawns of the powers of darkness! It’s so interesting to read in Jeremiah 17:10, God speaking, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS, according to the fruit of his doings.” A difference between ‘the fruit of a man’s doings’ OR is there an opportunistic way of things that please and honor Holy God blessed by the Holy Spirit in a yielded vessel’s life?

In Galatians 5:22-25 Paul wrote: “But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. AND those who are Christ’s HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!) WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES. (SO…) IF we live in the Spirit, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.”

‘Best effort’? OR “SPIRIT-BLESSED”? ‘Trying’ OR “TRUSTING THE SPIRIT TO HONOR CHRIST THROUGH YOU AS YOU DAILY CHOOSE TO LIVE THE LIFE HONORING CHRIST JESUS BY THE BLESSED FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ALLOWED TO BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU?

The third verse of the old hymn published by The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1940, says: “Come, Holy Comforter, Your sacred witness bear In this glad hour: You who Almighty ART, NOW RULE IN EVERY HEART, and ne’er from us depart, Spirit of power.”

I.H.Meredith in the same hymnal wrote “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit.”

“Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your impress, we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Help us Your likeness to show; Then from our lives unto others Streams of rich blessings shall flow.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Make Us Your own this hour; Let us be useful, dear Master, Seal us with witnessing power.

Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.”

Concerning YOU in your present path of ‘faith’, as if misguided, diluted, or truthfully a lack of faith, choosing for yourself again the mortal sphere of misguided men, OR have you willfully stepped over into the immortal sphere of the redeemed, the “blood-bought”, the “new-born”, indwelt by the Spirit of the Resurrection Life of Christ, anointed by the Holy Spirit sensing more and more every day of, yes, the “fruit of the Spirit” as God’s Holy Word verifies it? Does “the tree of your life of saving faith” flourish with the “Fresh Fruit of the Holy Spirit”?

Chapter 22RAISING SPIRITUAL SONS

Nowhere in my earthly dreams or spiritual visions did I ever consider myself a “spiritual father.” I’ve looked UP to many men in my forty-two years of ministry as strong spiritual guides and encouragers – and even at 68 years of age I still look for them and warmly receive them.

But my November, 2004, trip to India confirmed some things in me that I genuinely had not realized. Though a lot of the India pastors call me “Papa,” I’m definitely appreciative of their love – but when they say, “Papa Farrell, you are to me my spiritual father and I love you for the example you’ve been to me,” IT IS VERY HUMBLING!!

There is an awesome responsibility that is so real, so needy in mentoring, training, and equipping young men TO WALK WITH CHRIST AS A MATURING DISCIPLE AND A WINNING WITNESS.

It is filled with heartaches and disappointments as well as great joys and distinct pleasures. There are days and weeks and months that oftentimes it is so dark and cloudy because of choices some of your spiritual sons make – decisions that blot their witness but crush your heart! Then the sun shines brightly because one son begins to look like Jesus more and more, and you rejoice.

Physically I’m the father of three sons and a daughter and I look upon them as spiritual sons and a spiritual daughter. How I pray and long that they’ve picked up the best from Sue and me – not our worst! I came into physical and spiritual parenting with a lot of baggage; a lot of unresolved conflicts; and even more basic, a lack of my true identity in Christ. And in all four, Scott, Susan, Stan, and Steve, no father could be as proud as I am of all of them. THEY DO LOVE JESUS!

Spiritually God has blessed me beyond measure. He has put into my sphere of influence even guys I didn’t know I was influencing! But then there are those that I’ve walked with, worked with, wept with – blessed a hundred-fold!

November, 2004, Coimbatore. Young university students and graduates who were thankful for the ministry of the Word then commented, “We look to you as our spiritual father.” Mumbai, engineer-pastor, bi-vocational, “Since the first time I heard you teach eight years ago, I’ve looked to you as my spiritual father. The anointing, the Word, your spirit in Christ captured me heart.” Mumbai, a New Life senior pastor – “

Papa Farrell, I’ll always look to you as my spiritual father; a lot of India pastors feel the same way.”

I want no glory, no honor, no praise – if there is any, “Let It Go To Calvary.” But it has awakened some new and wonderful things in me. I sense a weighty, weighty responsibility on me the the “sentence of death” on me is a daily reality so “The RESURRECTION LIFE OF JESUS IS MANIFESTED IN MY MORTAL FLESH>“ I sense that passion for Christ to be all He wants to be through me. I sense a call to greater humility, greater dependance, greater hunger, more wisdom, more power than a lowly disciple could ever try to muster up on his own. I love what Paul said to the Philippians about himself – “apprehended of God” – and for God’s purposes; “apprehended of God” – and for His people; “apprehended of Go” – and for His pleasure.

It was certainly the intent of Christ Jesus in spiritual fathering. There’s the twelve He drew to Himself. There was that inner circle with such quality time with their teacher. And I do know it is WHAT He taught, but also what they “CAUGHT” from Him in those years together, and what He “WROUGHT” into their lives by Word, deed, and Holy Presence.

I remember those two disciples on the road to Emmaeus as their “hearts burned within them” as Jesus opened the Word and Spirit.

That deep bond between Paul and the Ephesian elders speaks so loud to us as we see that history of time, teaching etc., “holding back nothing that was necessary” for their spiritual health.

Does early Acts speak to you? They were together, had all things common – and they CONTINUED STEDFASTLY IN THE APOSTLES’ DOCTRINE AND FELLOWSHIP. Does that say anything about fathering “spiritual sons and daughters?”

From the Old Testament I’m reminded of the prophets and…”the sons of the prophets.” I see a Naomi and a Ruth. What about Elijah and tha “mantle of Elijah” that Elisha “picked up?” I look at an Eli encouraging a young Samuel, “When you hear the voice again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ “ And Samuel is raised up, prepared to serve God in a powerful way.

What was the role of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo in equipping “wise men” to look for the “Star?” And hundreds of years later the “teaching” is still going on and “wise men” from the East show up at Jesus’ birthplace to bless the newborn King!

Zacharias’ son John gets a prophetic word through his father that he’ll PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD and even be a servant of God turning the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

In 2 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul speaks: “You therefore, MY SON, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…AND THE THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM ME AMONG MANY WITNESSES, COMMIT THESE TO FAITHFUL MEN WHO WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS ALSO.” What a revelation and inspiration to training, mentoring, discipline!!

I saw in MalachI I as I was flying back from India verse 6 when God said, “a son honors his father,” yet today in far too many corners of our globe ‘sons’ (and I use that reservedly) use their fathers, accuse and abuse, ignore, circumvent his leadership, blessing and birthright, and with the Korahs, Dathans and Abirims go out on their own insisting “all are holy” and they don’t need, don’t want, and could care less about a “father’s blessing.”

I believe Jesus was very clear when in Luke 16:12, He said: “And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, WHO WILL GIVE YOU WHAT IS YOUR OWN?” There are those ‘sons’ who KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FAITHFULNESS TO THAT WHICH IS ‘ANOTHER MAN’S…and they really never know the blessing that COULD HAVE BEEN THEIR OWN. Oh…they believe they have it!

I remember a young evangelist about twenty-five years ago who used to preach on “You may get what YOU WANT, but not want what you get!” That is so on target! Even Jesus Himself said, “You are of your father the Devil, for his works you do.” And how disappointed Jesus must have been with the eloquent professors who never possessed one ounce of earnestness of faith and obedience to the “SPIRIT of OUR FATHER!”

You may not know the name Frederick Faber, but he was a discouraged Anglican minister who had left that church to become a part of Roman Catholism.And there he found an emptiness of strong hymns of faith and the joy of singing, so he began to write “new songs.” He was so fearful of “new religious movements” and new attitudes of ‘discipleship’ that looked only at the experience of the moment, immediacy of the moment, that left a void of devotion to relationships. One of his hymns says:

“Faith of our fathers! Living still In spite of dungeon, fire and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy When’er we hear that glorious word!….Faith of our fathers, HOLY FAITH! We will be true to You till death.”

And I wondered if Faber had been in the role of “spiritual fatherhood” and had his heart broken over ‘immediacy,’ ‘all are holy,’ ‘I do it my way,’ ‘I have things I want to accomplish’ – leaving a father in despair as wayward sons manufacture self-appointed ‘ministries’ and begin to build their own little kingdoms.

In the matter of “spiritual fathers” and sons in training there are certain principles of RELATIONSHIP, RIGORS IN TRAINING, AND, YES, RELEASE – but far too many ‘sons’ want relationship without the rigors of training and certainly not ‘RELEASE’ because that interferes with the ‘me, my, mine’ philosophy. It’s why Steve Farrar wrote in “Finishing Strong,” (p39), “…the qualification for having a public ministry is not ‘giftedness.’ The qualification for ministry is PROVEN CHARACTER.” And Jesus told some that they ought to make friends for yourself who have ‘deep pockets,’ because when you fail they can take care of you, inferring He’s not going to. Why? No faithfulness in little things, no faithfulness in handling money in a godly fashion, and no faithfulness to the nurturing father!! That’s Luke 16 if you need it!! And sometimes you wonder, “Who will be true till death” in relationships?

I want us to examine as thoroughly as possible “RAISING SPIRITUAL SONS” from a biblical perspective:

Let’s look FIRST at THE FATHERS AND THE PRODIGALS: And what God’s Word is telling us is that some sons are intent on leaving the father’s presence and living a self-centered, self-willed, self-indulgent life. And try as the father may some are ‘hell-bent’ on ‘me, my, my way, my choices, my decisions,’ and they end up wasting so much of their lives, potential, and possessions with prodigal living. Life choices like that brings one to a “spent all” style of living with a loss of not only any possessions but any small degree of ‘family heritage’ he may have possessed.

It always leaves these sons of personal choice beginning to be in want! He stoops to swine-slop and no one seems to care. But in Luke 15:17 God’s Word tells us, “when he came to himself.” That is so very good. And we all rejoice because finally he decides, “I will arise and go to my father’s house.”

But in the midst of all this I’m wondering, “What’s going on with the Father?” And I begin to say, “Father, as you’ve given us roles and ministries to fulfill as earthly fathers and spiritual fathers, how do we relate to WAYWARD SONS?” And I learn several things:

One, God has built into us all the will of self-determination. He has not, will not, violate the free will of man in choosing his destiny over the will of the Father. The loving Father is not interested in ‘puppets on a string’ or electronic robots, but sons desperate for the father’s love, the father’s blessing, and the father’s intent.

Secondly, even the son who stayed, ‘the elder brother,’ missed the ‘spirit’ of the father. Close proximity is no guarantee of the spirit of a father’s heart. Sometimes the need is never sensed until one FINDS himself at the end of the road.

Third, the father’s heart never changes. He’s “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Sorrowful, but wise as to the need of one discovering who he is and what he needs. Able, but unwilling to force the issue. Loving, whether the son stays or oes into the “wild, black yonder.” Forgiving because He understand illumined sons have greater potential than blinded sons.

Fourth, a loving father’s eyes are never off “the road of return and restoration.” Compassionately he waits, energetically he prays, with vision he plans, with anticipation he prepares for “the party.”

Fifth, He did not run after the son – he patiently waited because “the ball is in the court” of the son, not in the court of the father!!

Secondly, look at the spiritual fathers and the ‘John Marks’ as the ‘fathers’ relate to the sons’ fears, frustrations, failures and fallabilities.

And the one thing I want you to grasp is, that whether it’s sons or disciples, our walk RELATES TO THE CROSS – our Lord’s cross and our own. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

In Mark 14:51-52 I believe our Lord is giving us insight into the pattern a lot of sons set for their lives. We see this picture of John Mark’s early steps, however fault-ridden, into the beginning of his ‘becoming.’ And I believe later in life John Mark is telling about himself!!

“Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him…and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.” When the ‘cross’ is omitted in a son’s life it always leaves him in a state of ‘spiritual nakedness.’

But something is going on in John Mark’s life. Don’t know about his natural father, but we learn in Acts 12 that Peter came to a certain house after the iron gate of the prison was opened and Peter was freed. What house did he come to?

Acts 12:12, “…he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.” John Mark had a powerful witness from a praying mother and a grandmother!

Verse 25 of that same chapter says, “Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.”

A spirirtual father, Paul the apostle, is now in the strong circle of influence of John Mark. Acts 13:5 says that as Barnabas and Saul are sent out on a new mission that they have a “helper” named John Mark! Then verse 13 of Acts 13, please see it, “John left them and returned to Jerusalem.” Is fear a reason? Is faithlessness a guiding factor? Is human fallability rather than divine identity a controlling influence? Does frustration capture a son because he wants a greater role and believes he has a better vision?

It was so very, very serious that the spiritual father, Paul, does not want John Mark on another ministry with him – the mission is too vital! In Acts 15:37-38, “And Barnabas was desirous of taking John, called Mark, along with them…But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.”

In fact, verse 39, says: “there arose such a sharp disagreement that Barnabas and Paul separated from one another…” And Barnabas took John Mark with him.

How wrong was Paul? He wasn’t wrong at all! The mission was too vital, the call was too clear, the danger too imminent to have to be consumed with one who could walk away again! But, thank God, for “sons of encouragement” who are willing to “diaper-rize” spiritually infant sons who ought to be spiritual, vibrant sons already.

But then look at 2 Timothy 4:11!! He’s writing Timothy and says, “Only Luke is with me. Get MARK and bring him with you, FOR HE IS USEFUL TO ME FOR MINISTRY.”

The ministry was and always is uppermost in a spiritual father’s life and plans. And sometimes someone else has the role of spiritual encourager to bring a ‘son’ along.

And get this – the day came when John Mark ‘probably’ penned the first Gospel. Thank God, for team effort that brings us all along where the Father truly wants us to be!!

Third, look at the spiritual fathers and their relationship to ‘sons’ who struggle with opposition, persecution, and doubts. Who might that be? Do you think maybe Paul and Timothy?

My New King James Bible opens 2 Timothy with a statement: “Prison is the last place from which to expect a letter of encouragement,” but that’s what it is because Paul somehow has learned the plight or position his young spiritual son finds himself in. Paul’s in prison, the opposition is very intense, persecution abounds all around him, and Timothy is wondering, “Is this walk of faith worth it?” He’s even been weeping about it!

Without a doubt I believe Timothy was on the verge of walking away! Remember Peter? “I’m going back to fishing.” I don’t know what Timothy might have done if Paul, his spiritual father, had not sent him that letter of encouragement. [ I remember calling the home of a “fallen son” and he never returned my call. And I don’t know his spiritual health to this day. Heartbreaking. I did hear he trashed me all over his area for ‘interfering.’]

I was flabbergasted when I read Farrar’s book “Finishing Strong” and he told about John Bisagno’s future father-in-law telling him that it had been his observation “that just one out of ten who start in full-time service for the Lord at 21 are still on track by the age of 65.” He said, “they’re shot down morally, they’re shot down with discouragement, they’re shot down with liberal theology, they get obscessed with making money….but for one reason or another NINE OUT OF TEN FALL OUT.” (p6)

No wonder Paul wrote to the Ephesians (4:1-2), :I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…with all lowliness and gentlness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.”

When you read 2 Timothy 1:8 you realize the battle that Timothy was in as he must have been wrestling as to whether or not devotion to Christ was really worth it. Paul said, “..do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.”

And then Paul hit’s a homerun when in verse 9 he reminds Timothy that God “has SAVED US and CALLED US WITH A HOLY CASLLING, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was GIVEN TO US IN CHRIST JESUS BEFORE TIME BEGAN!!!”

That is so awesome! And how it needs to be spoken by spiritual fathers to struggling, unsure sons – “You’re SAVED, Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb, Called Of God to a distinct ministry and gifting, GIVEN TO US Before Time Had Even Begun, THE CHOSEN AND ELECT OF GOD, …AND YOU CAN’T WALK AWAY!!!”

Encouragement from spiritual fathers? Paul reminds Timothy he’s “a good soldier” of Jesus Christ; he reminds him he’s “a strong athlete” with a gold medal awaiting him; and he reminds him as a “profitable farmer” he gets to enjoy the abundance of the harvest!

Encouragement from spiritual fathers? “Defeat, Timothy, is not a stumbling block – it’s a stepping stone. Doubt, Timothy? It’s the door to certainty and confidence; Fear, Timothy? It’s a step away from the greatness and ableness of God!!”

Henry Ward Beecher put it like this: “It is defeat that turns bone to flint, and gristle to muscle, and makes people invincible, and forms those heroic natures that are now in ascendancy in the world. Do not, then, be afraid of defeat. You are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause.”

Fourthly, look at spiritual fathers who give their sons lofty and significant goals for their lives and not a sense of shortsightedness. Come to Colossians 4:17 where Paul challenges Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

Two things to note here: One, ministry received “in the Lord.” I have no doubts that some men are shoved into places they should never be by thoughtless and unspiritual men. But true ministry is ‘in the Lord.’ It’s not an option I have – it’s a conviction God holds for one’s life.

And, two, ministry is to be fulfilled! What did Paul say in 2 Timothy 4:7-8? “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

What greater example than Christ Himself? In John 17:4, He said to the Father, “…I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” Pressing in, laying hold, finishing the work is a Call we cannot run from! Break the tape, cross the line, then….rest in the arms of Jesus! Not now will I stop short; not now will I slow down in the race; not now will I R & R in the time of the battle of the ages. Not now – WE’RE GOING ON, WE’RE GOING IN!!

Fifth, consider Jesus and Judas! There is BETRAYAL; there is DENIAL; and there is REFUSAL TO TAKE A BIBLICAL PATH TO RESTORATION. In spiritual parenting there is always the path of brokenness, deep sorrow, and fearfulness over one you relate to who turns on you, betrays your trust, out for what the ‘son’ can get on his own. He’ll even publicly kiss you and then put a knife right into your heart. Because his consideration is, “What can I gain?’ rather than “What can I give?”

Judas’ want to hold the purse strings. Judas’ want the majority vote. Judas’ have “legitimate” explanations for betrayal and denial – and even if it dawns on them they’ve been wrong, a noose is better than the Good News of repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ. They go it alone and abandon even their fellow disciples and choose Pharisees. Judas’ are down on spiritual extranagance like the woman with the expensive perfume pouring it all over Jesus, washing His feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. Judas’ are guided by, “That doesn’t sell,” as if discipleship and ministry are marketable products. “God, help us. Where have we come to in the American church?”

No wonder James Boren said, “It’s hard to look up to a leader who keeps his ear to the ground.” Judas’ are political poll watchers who put their finger up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing rather than “Follow Me.” Judas’ measure their devotion by the visible not the invisible and they never become a part of seeing the impossible accomplished. They are “nickles and dimes” folk and not ministry or servant hood focused.

Remember Judas’ approach to Jesus? He’s going to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver by way of a ‘kiss.’ But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come here?” HOW AWESOME! Do you doubt Jesus knew what was about to happen? But He still called him, “Friend…”

I’m ith Peter – ‘let’s cut off some ears,” but thank God that Jesus says, “Put your sword in its place!” Yes, Lord; but I sure would like to tanny some fanny! Yes, Lord; but will those faithless sons pay? Yes, Lord; but can I call down a little fire and brimstone? And ‘In His Time’ there is an accounting of one’s stewardship of trust in the “purse strings” of responsibility and relationship – and the FATHER will work it out.

The only problem I see in spiritual fathers and “sons” relationship is what is going on in a son’s heart? It was John Ruskin who said: “When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.” Big God Himself has a major problem getting even into “small packages.”

It’s why Josiah Gilbert Holland cried out: God give us men. A time like this demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands.

Men whom the lust of office does not kill, men whom the spoils of office cannot buy, men who possess opinions and a will, men who love honor, men who will not lie.”

Whether a spiritual father or a growing, maturing spiritual son, Paul has inspired advice when truthfully he said in Philippians 3:12-14, (TLB),

“I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be…..

No, dear brothers, I am still not at all I should be but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.”

That is my passionate heart-cry for myself and for anyone our Lord has put in my path to influence, inspire, encourage – whatever; so that we all might come into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rise up, fathers! Rise up, sons! BE ALL CHRIST SAVED YOU TO BE! Hold on, fathers, to that high and holy calling of nurturing, mentoring, and training! Hold on, sons, until the ‘father’s release!’

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“ABANDONING HOPE OR ABIDING IN HOPE?”

In the Random House Collegiate Dictionary the word “hope” is described as follows: “The feeling that what is desired is also possible, or that events may turn out for the best..; to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence..; that something desired may happen..; trust, rely.” And no doubt, redeemed or not, there are people gripped in their minds with a “hope” that what they put their faith in may happen or it may not happen. But ‘fleshly hope’ is nowhere near Biblical hope! Some, both out of or in the church “hope things turn out for the ‘best’,” or like others they live, they strive, they ‘try’, but live in a state of mind AND heart : “I hope against hope,” which IS a sad state of mental, physical, and spiritual levels of living! Why not ABIDE IN BIBLICAL HOPE without being swayed by the world, the flesh, or the devil?

In John 15:4-11 the Lord Jesus tells us: Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, AND My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Would you say that Jesus was extremely clear when He said that if you and I as believers “abide in Him” that we will be strongly held in the arms of Him whose arms cannot be broken? Did He also say that only in and through Him does Sovereign fruitfulness become a reality? And in that “rest” in Him only, did He also say that abiding in Him supernaturally allows divine fruitfulness, to bud and produce, yes, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of Christ, the fruit of God?

But, notice John 15:2! “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit the Father takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” And in the branch should one, yes, be concerned about minimum or maximum ‘fruit-production’? Is the “fruit” that the Word declares the evidence of one’s “new birth experience” or an unredeemed life that just “hopes for the best”, but hoping for the best is not the same as “resting in the hope Christ has promised” which is “His best” revealed in His full surrender to God the Father’s “Before Creation, but settled in His Mind, His Heart, and His Will: “My Son will be the “hope of all repentant, trusting hearts, in reconciliation to My eternal purpose for created, sin-bound men who are only set free from godlessness and led by Christ into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Do you remember Jesus saying thousands of years after Abraham’s birth, life, and death that “Abraham rejoiced to see My day and he was glad?” Father-God knew that in the reality of men’s birthing on earth He didn’t want “spiritual zombies” as sons and daughters but people free to choose whether they wanted to be independent of God or dependent upon Him for mercy and grace! And, yes, Abraham and many Old Testament citizens learned of the Coming Messiah who would be the “blood sacrifice” in behalf of repentant hearts and souls.

But, sadly, multitudes abandoned hope from God holding on to “best effort” human genius! That’s like Pharaoh of Egypt, confronted in Exodus 5 by Moses and Aaron on a mission from God, telling Pharaoh that Holy God said to “Let My people go” from their Egyptian bondage and slavery with Pharaoh saying in Exodus 5:2, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”

Even though Sovereign God determined the Savior of the world would come as “Emmanuel” or “God in flesh”, and that He would come being born of the Virgin Mary, only true, God-trusting Old Testament believers of Israel put their faith in the Savior their physical eyes would never see, indicating certainly “spiritual vision” far outweighs being able to see with only physical eyes! Yes, “Abraham (having never seen) rejoiced to see My day, and he was glad!”

Most of Israel abandoned hope although they were devoted to religious observances! Most of the world today doesn’t even look back to the Cross of Christ as most of Israel in the Old Testament didn’t look forward to His coming! They were satisfied with their religious observances even as they practiced, yes, a godless lifestyle, heavily reinforced with religious activities, never sensing the Voice of Christ or the Holy Spirit’s unveiling of Christ to them. Why? “Who needs a Savior when we’re capable of doing whatever our natural or religious minds determine! We’re able to be religiously devoted!”

And there are still those even today who “take up stones to throw at Christ”! To them it was justified because they didn’t see the great “I AM” Jesus as worthy of anything but stoning! But, I urge you, reflect upon Saul’s attitude toward the prophet Samuel who had just learned from God, “Saul doesn’t follow Me”, and Holy God instructed Samuel to tell Saul, as well as all unbelievers today, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.”

Of course, we don’t have to be concerned in the church today about being called ‘kings’, or do we? In Revelation 5:9-10, “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. And they sang a new song, saying: (Speaking to the Lamb of God, King Jesus!), “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and nation, (GET READY!!!), and have MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS TO OUR GOD; AND WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.”

That’s not when you die and go to heaven, but when on earth you choose the sentence of death unto yourself that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in you as He anoints YOU IN HIM to reign upon the earth!

But around you daily you cross paths with people who “abandon hope” and refuse to even consider “abiding in hope” because some tell them, “If you even rang God’s heavenly doorbell, He wouldn’t answer you because even God can’t help the hopeless,” which is so foreign to the mind, heart, and will of God. I tell you, God is able to save, heal, deliver the worst sinner on the face of the earth if he/she, in true repentance and faith calls out for God’s mercy and grace!

But I tell you also, there is a huge difference between a ‘religious hope fabricated by men’ and redemptive hope written forever by the shed blood of the Lamb of God who still says: “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” I don’t know who wrote it, but I came across an anonymous statement: “There is more hope for a self-convicted sinner than there is for a self-conceited saint,” and to that I say, “Amen!”

I wrote a few words I pray will enlighten you, bless you, and encourage you – no title yet, just a few, I hope, challenging words!!

“Lord Jesus, Son of God, Savior of repentant, faith-believing minds and hearts, Open our understanding of all Your gracious deeds as, by Your Spirit, we examine our heart-felt needs!

That’s the need to abandon hopelessness and be swept up in the sea of Your abiding hope! Our wanderings without you birthed a life of a world of grief because, we as your children, rested in ourselves as thieves.

In ourselves, no hope; in ourselves, no cure; in ourselves, no help; becoming hopeless and helpless, blinded by ‘flesh’, deceived by Satan, fooled by the world, we dance the death that will not die, even blinding ourselves to God’s open eye!

There are dark clouds for men without God, but gracious God, in amazing love, placed His Son on our very sod; hope is His gift, mercy His song, His invitation to Him belong!

“Come to Me and I’ll give you rest, find your place in Heaven’s nest – no longer the sad song of life’s frustration, but washed in His blood, indwelt in your body, you see your heart as My destination.”

There is for your life, though clouds may come, the starlight of heaven shining on your home. Circumstances may arise with Satan’s intent to discourage your walk, but never give in to his empty talk.

Christ Jesus has spoken, and His received Word need never be broken! He ever abides to stand by your side, that you in His glory may continue to abide. His sunset of hope, like an anchor to hold, is never swept away but continually abides to stand by your side, His promise that cannot be denied!” Amen?

“Abandoning Hope Or Abiding in Hope?” I pray you’ll join me in “Abiding in Hope”! Let’s look first at “God’s Amazing Promise”! In Hebrews 6:9-20 we read: “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. [A forty year wait!].

For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, DETERMINED TO SHOW MORE ABUNDANTLY TO THE HEIRS OF PROMISE THE IMMUTABILITY OF HIS COUNSEL, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. [Did Abraham ‘lay hold of the hope’ AFTER HE HAD PATIENTLY ENDURED? Again, there is ‘birth’, ‘infancy’, ‘youth’, ‘young adult’, and the ‘senior fully matured in the faith’!].

Hebrews 6:19-20 continues: “This hope we have AS AN ANCHOR OF THE SOUL, BOTH SURE AND STEADFAST, and which enters the “Presence” behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Are YOU “standing on our Lord’s promises and resting in the sure Word of God that never fades away or changes?

SECOND, ABIDING IN HOPE IS BEING ENRICHED BY THE ANOINTED WORD OF GOD! Don’t ever forget or overlook in ‘discipleship training’ the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:4 as Jesus responded to Satan’s temptations! He said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Tell me, first, about your physical dieting! Do you at least try to eat three square meals a day? BUT, is there the necessity of ‘spiritual feeding’ of the redeemed soul? If you eat three square meals a day to maintain your physical body, what about maintaining the ‘spiritual life’ that MUST BE NOURISHED IN THE BREAD, MEAT, AND VEGETABLES AND HONEY OF GOD’S SPIRIT-WORD?

In John 6:63-64 Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” How many ‘believers’ and ‘church folk’ have crossed your path who insist there is no need of discipline in the Word “after” one had been born again?

Very interesting Verse in Psalm 49:20! “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” And, I thought: How many honorable men in the church or outside the church are esteemed but couldn’t give you one word about himself as a student of God’s Holy Word feeding on it daily? Are you “being enriched” by the living and abiding Word of God?

THIRD, ABIDING IN HOPE IS BEING SUSTAINED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! In Romans 8: 1-2 Paul wrote: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (one’s old sin nature), but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Abandoning hope is the determination to choose to live by one’s best effort without any need of “God’s interference” with one proving he/she can do it on one’s own determination! But Holy God just happens to be smarter than fallen mankind’s assessment of himself, God fully aware ‘in the flesh’ fallen mankind cannot, does not, will not live the overcoming life against the world, one’s old sin nature, or Satan’s interference; therefore merciful God sustains us by the Holy Spirit in divine conviction, divine conversion, and divine consecration – the Holy Spirit sustains true believers!

In Romans 8:8-11 Paul continued laying the foundation for a true believer “abiding in hope”! He wrote: “So then those who are in the flesh (living under the control of their old sin nature) cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And IF Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Holy Spirit who dwells in you.”

But there are those ‘professing believers’, ‘active church members’, even ‘preachers’, who say, “Oh, someday, in the sweet by and by, we’ll finally experiencing what it means to live in Christ’s fullness!” Yet Paul wrote in Romans 15:29, “But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” Really? In the here and now? That’s the true gospel! And “in Christ” you can “live with joy by the will of God,” “daily refreshed in His resurrection life, resurrection power, and resurrection hope”! I say to you: NEVER FORGET Martin Luther’s words in his famous hymn that says: “A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Does seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God’s own choosing. Do you ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth is His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the battle.

And tho’ this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, For God has willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim – We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For lo! His doom is sure: One little world shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers – No thanks to them – abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours Through Him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also; The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.” Can YOU say AMEN to the grace, mercy, and love of God as YOUR ABIDING HOPE, or do you presently walk on “the sinking sands” of fleshly suffocation?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“BLAND-SOME, HANDSOME, OR AWESOMELY TRANSFORMED?”

It was really interesting when I read casually a statement written anonymously but included in a major book called “The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations.” The encyclopedia was a Fleming H. Revell Company publication. The statement? “Beware of no man more than yourself.” And I’m sure without hesitation that there ought to be at times the necessity of looking to ourselves, examining ourselves, and determining if we’re responsible and accountable to God about our ‘present state’, mentally, emotionally, health-wise, and certainly spiritual evaluation about ourselves, whether under our own control or moving daily through life under God’s agenda and not our fleshly anticipation!

It was Alexander Maclaren who once said, “All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to God on which you sacrifice yourself, or you will never advance a step.” So true!

When there is no inward analysis about where we presently are in the inner man, it is so easy in making turns more and more away from God but centering and surrendering and classifying ourselves as our own ‘man’ able to determine one’s own spiritual destiny or as an ‘asserting believer sure of one’s ‘salvation’ because they attend ‘church’ regularly yet bear “no fruit” of a redeemed, Spirit-led walk of true discipleship!

Shockingly I read where Benjamin Franklin once said, “God helps those who help themselves.” NO! A THOUSAND TIMES, NO! God helps those who empty themselves of self-control, choosing death daily to our ‘old man’ and being filled with and controlled by the Holy Presence of Christ and His “guiding” Holy Spirit, by the reality of Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

A paraphrased statement of Charles Caleb Colton says: “Heroism, magnanimity, and self-denial, in which they do not spring from the foundational truth of “death to self and pure life only in Christ’s Resurrection Presence within”, may be religious in their tendencies, but are only on the ‘personal altar’ of sacrifice of one kind of self-love to another kind of self-love,’ with no glory to God and no honor to the pretender,” but just promotes attention to ‘self-gratification”!”

Have you ever heard people in religious circles encouraging those in their circles having a hard time adjusting to their ‘profession of faith’, “You must TRY HARDER”! And the true disciple understands that it’s not a matter of ‘trying harder’ but “trusting more and more”, like we read through Paul’s teaching, led by the Holy Spirit, “Take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in your mortal flesh”!

Daily denial of the “old self” willfully explodes”(!*) in the reality of the heart’s open door to the “Master-ing” of Christ Himself through you! Holy God longs and looks for those who willfully deny themselves and are filled and over-flowing with the Holy Presence of the Resurrected Christ, yes, Him reigning as the Victorious King in one’s humble heart, daily dead to self and the old man but living in “the fullness of the blessing” of His moment by moment “reign in victory” over your life, even over all your trials, temptations, and troubles! Sadly, in much of modern-day Christianity, many know nothing of “the joy of the Lord”!

Modern-day ‘humanity’, the general public, the national or international make-up of men, includes often rulers with no allegiance to “King Jesus”, business owners and some of their employees, State leaders with some having NO allegiance to the will of God, even universities or local school employees or state governments who’ve decided the “Sacred Scriptures” have no place in their communities, even doctors, nurses, and hospitals who have no desire or place for the ministry of the Great Physician! And even more sad is when some churches are ‘ruled’ by some pastors and elders who major more on their personal philosophies than they do “Preaching and Teaching the Word of God”, yes, excellent in its history but void and empty of its message to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel”, or validating His Presence in them by witnessing, evangelizing, loving and caring for the lost community that surrounds the local gathering and ‘smart’ preacher (?)!

Let’s examine “The Bland-some”! In “The Random House Collegiate Dictionary”, Revised Edition of 1975 by Random House Inc., the word “bland” is described as follows: “pleasantly gentle or agreeable, (and I have to ask, “With anything and everything”?), non-irritating,lacking in interest (of what doesn’t fit their mind or heart-set?,lacking liveliness, lacking loveliness in what miraculously blesses it?),unemotional, indifferent, casual, possessing either a softness, or harshness, or irritating.”

The bland-some? That’s individuals being consumed in their self-awareness that they do not like, but indifferent to the “knock” at their hearts’ doors to a caring, merciful, able God, Savior, and Lord, able to do exceedingly above All that one might consider or think, even miraculously producing a “new man”!

The bland-some, un-governed, have no desire to be governed by Another who IS the Master of an individual’s destiny! The bland-some, though within their minds and hearts are often encouraged by even a human touch or a fleshly encouragement, are strongly minded against anything Holy God has to say about them! That’s why Jesus said about the rulers over the religious Pharisees, in John 12:43, fearful of being put out of the synagogue, “for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”!

Even from the time of beginning, by God, of man’s earthly residency, many of natural mankind had an aversion to God! And because of, and even being created “in the image or likeness of God”, and really for His glory only(!), some of natural mankind had and has no desire to be birthed again (in the Spirit!) and see their ‘seed’ becoming “servants of God”! And buried in the recesses of their minds and darkened hearts was and is, by some, was and is, resistance to obedience to God’s will or purpose for their lives! That attitude is still paramount across our known world! (That’s why true believers are called by Christ to be “witnesses to their world” of saving grace, love, power, and purpose!).

The bland-some? Have you ever read through early Exodus about Moses’ encounter with the Pharaoh of Egypt? Holy God sent faithful Moses as a witness, but Pharaoh’s heart was “hardened by God” because of his resistance to divine truth, the divine Way, and the divine purpose, exactly the ‘spiritual disease’ of the bland-some!

In 1 Samuel 8 we find the historical record of ‘bland-some’ folk who have no desire to even know what God thinks about the purpose of their existence! Follow carefully the historical record, beginning at Verse 4 through Verse 9! It says: “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” [Please consider!! What would happen worldwide if nations declared allegiance to Jesus’ saving grace and Jesus’ eternal purpose for lives, homes, cities, states, and nations?].

But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day – with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods – so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed there voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.” [Tell me of the present result in your life of the results of the “bland-some king of flesh” ruling in you, through you, for his hellish ‘academy award’ of deceit reigning over you presently!].

OH, BUT THEN, BEYOND THE BLAND-SOME, LET’S EXAMINE THE HANDSOME, THE ‘HOLLYWOOD’ PRODUCTION OF SELF-BEAUTIFIED, SELF-GLORIFIED, SELF- CELEBRATING!!

In, yes, the context of human existence, beyond the ‘bland-some’, there are the ‘handsome’ who truly are ‘successful’ in what most consider to be “successes, academy award winners of the best efforts of ‘flesh’, best efforts of godless men, best efforts of human achievements.” And the world around them celebrate, rejoice, and are giddy about their achievements – but GOD LAUGHS and opens the door to Hell’s celebration of their self-centered, godless existence!

Are you familiar with Pharoah of Egypt’s handsomeness, his impressiveness in ascending to national leadership, and his allegiance to his ‘handsome way’ of leadership(?)? He had ‘the peacock-pride’ of self-will, self-rule, self-preeminence! He was ruler, he was ‘master’ over slaves, he owned Egypt (he thought), and lived a self-centered, wealthy, prosperous life-style while his citizens hungered! Some consider ‘pride’ as the beginning of sin, when in reality it is only the bad fruit of what is already there, thus reigning ‘in sin’ as he ruled over his people! What are You ‘reigning’ in as you live, yes, independently of the Indwelling Christ as He makes a man’s redeemed life the center of His Earthly Throne and His Heavenly Presence?

The ‘handsome back-slappers’ have no awareness of the sin of pride, of hypocrisy, and of, yes, their vain-glory! The ‘fallen’ are spiritually blind and need the miracle of God’s saving grace to “open their eyes” to see eternal opportunity!! I was reading somewhere, not sure where or even by whom, but I wrote down a reference to the words of Charles Churchill in his writing “Independence” about William Warburton, Bishop of Glouchester, in England, many, many years ago. The statement? Speaking about the Bishop:

“He was so proud that should he meet the Twelve Apostles in the street he’d turn his nose up at them all and shove his Savior from the wall.” Wow! What an illuminating statement! Can YOU believe that even some national church leaders have been ‘pretenders’, imitators, comical ‘showboats’, shaming their profession of Christ without an ounce of possession of “the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”? Was it pride that shamed some angels even before human creation?

Do you even grasp the absurdity of ‘fallen’, ‘professing’, ‘religious’, ‘pretending’, supposedly ‘righteous men’, celebrating their ‘religious faith’ (?), but they hold out, yield to a ‘heaven-inspired’ (?) of their ‘salvation’ when the historical, living testimony, is a Christless life never yielding to the Christ who desires to indwell them, but they profess that on their terms! YOUR “BEST” IS NOT HIS BLESSED PRESENCE!!!

You don’t seek to understand so that you may believe, you TRUST what Jesus says He’s already accomplished through His death, His Resurrection, and His Throne-Reigning in Heaven, graciously granting His Holy Spirit’s residence in you to “guide you into all truth” in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”!

Valiant, blessed, fulfilled, rejoicing individuals, though having “embraced the darkness of their old sin natures” COME TO THE LIGHT OF CHRIST IN AND THROUGH And BY HIS GRACE AND MERCY THEY ARE ETERNALLY CHANGED INTO SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF A TRUE, LIVING, TRANSFORMING FAITH – It’s “JESUS ONLY”! THIS BRINGS US TO:

THE DIVINE REALITY, THE HEAVENLY MIRACLE OF GRACE OF AWESOME TRANSFORMED LIVES THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST!! In John 1:14, 16 we read: “And the Word (that’s Jesus!) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”, with Verse 16 telling us, “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” Are you trying to live the Christian walk by ‘grit’ or by God’s grace?

Patiently read and follow with me Ephesians 1:15-2:10!! It says: “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God (and Father!) of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, they eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY POWER WHICH HE WORKED IN CHRIST WHEN HE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD AND SEATED HIM AT HIS RIGHT HAND IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And God put all things under Christ Jesus’ feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 2:1-10, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Can you say, “Glory, Hallelujah”?

Do you know and understand what Paul was saying in Ephesians 3:19? He was praying for Ephesian believers and us in the 21^st Century in America and the world over that we should “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Oh, and then in Ephesians 5:17-21 we read:

“Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Is there a continuous song of praise in your heart, spirit, and mind, even when it may be the darkest moment of your life, walk, and journey of faith and trust?

I AM TRULY ALWAYS AWED WHEN I READ PAUL’S ANOINTED ASSETMENT OF THE “PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST JESUS” IN COLOSSIANS 1:9-18! It says: For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, FULLY PLEASING HIM, being fruitful in every good work and INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who HAS QUALIFIED US TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN THE LIGHT.

He has “delivered us from the power of darkness” and “conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love”, in whom “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins”. He (Christ Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence.”

Question! “If Christ Jesus is meant to have preeminence IN ALL THINGS, in your life and walk, does He have preeminence in who you are and what you do? Does He have ‘preeminence’ in determining the streets upon which you walk? Your education, your training, who you date, who you marry, your evaluation and commitment of your ‘best effort’ to what you consider your spiritual, eternal calling?” What did the Word just say? “that in all things He may have the preeminence”! DOES JESUS HOLD PREEMINENCE IN YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY? Fanny Crosby and Robert Lowry wrote the following hymn words: “All the way my Savior leads me; What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who thro’ life has been my Guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell! For I know, whate’er befall me, Jesus does all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me, Cheers each winding path I tread, Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul athirst may be, Gushing from the Rock before me, Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me; Oh, the fullness of His love! Perfect Rest to me is promised in my Father’s house of love. (Now, not someday, ABOVE in the after-life!).When my spirit, clothed immortal, Wings its flight to realms of day (Actual Heaven’s abode!), This my song thro’ endless ages: JESUS LED (IN ME) ALL THE WAY; (EVERY DAY IN THE STILL ETERNAL DAY, IN THE ENDLESS AGES OF NO DEATH, NO SORROW, NO PAIN, NO SEPARATION)!” And His “Eternal Light” in us never dims, never fades, never darkens! AMEN?

ARE YOU ENJOYING AND CELEBRATING AND CONTINUALLY REJOICING AND PRAISING HIM THAT BY HIS GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE, THROUGH REPENTANCE AND FAITH, YIELDEDNESS AND SURRENDER, YOUR “NEW-BORN” LIFE IN CHRIST BECOMES HIS HOLY TEMPLE OF ABIDING PRESENCE, YES, HEAVEN ON EARTH!??!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“CROWNED PRINCES,CROWNED PRINCESSES SERVING THE KING OF KINGS”?

OUTSTANDING, MIND-ILLUMINATING, HEART-INSPIRING WORDS FROM PAUL IN HEBREWS 2:14-3:1-14 THAT ALL “CHURCH-FOLK”& “ALL OUTSIDE OF CHRIST” MUST HEAR!! PAUL SAID:

HEBREWS 2:14-18, “FORASMUCH THEN AS THE CHILDREN ARE PARTAKERS OF FLESH & BLOOD, CHRIST ALSO HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOOK PART OF THE SAME; THAT THROUGH DEATH HE MIGHT DESTROY HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH,THAT IS,THE DEVIL; AND DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL THEIR LIFETIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE.

FOR VERILY HE TOOK PART NOT ON HIM THE NATURE OF ANGELS;BUT HE TOOK ON HIM THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. WHEREFORE IN ALL THINGS IT BEHOVED HIM TO BE MADE LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN, THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL & FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD, TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE. FOR IN THAT HE HIMSELF SUFFERED BEING TEMPTED, “HE IS ABLE” TO SUCCOUR THEM THAT ARE TEMPTED. (SUCCOUR?IT’S A WORD DEFINED AS, “HELP,RELIEF,AID,ASSISTANCE”; THAT’S HOLY GOD ‘RUNNING’ TO HELP RAISE YOU OUT OF DEATH INTO “LIFE”, OUT OF BONDAGE INTO “ETERNAL FREEDOM”, OUT OF DEVILISH CHAINS “TO THE PROMISES OF YOUR LORD & SAVIOR OF GOD’S OVERCOMING STRENGTH”, OUT OF DEVILISH ACCUSATIONS “TO OUR LORD’S ABIDING TRUTHS”, OUT OF CONSTANT ACCUSATIONS BY DEVILISH DEMONS TO THE “LORD’S PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING”!). OH, NOW TO HEBREWS 3:1-14! WHEREFORE, HOLY BRETHREN, PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY CALLING, CONSIDER THE APOSTLE & HIGH PRIEST OF OUR PROFESSION, CHRIST JESUS; WHO WAS FAITHFUL TO HIM THAT APPOINTED HIM, AS ALSO MOSES WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE.

FOR THIS MAN (JESUS) WAS COUNTED WORTHY OF MORE GLORY THAN MOSES, INASMUCH AS HE WHO HAS BUILT THE HOUSE HAS MORE HONOR THAN THE HOUSE, FOR EVERY ‘HOUSE’ IS BUILT BY SOME MAN; BUT HE THAT BUILDS ALL THINGS IS GOD.

AND MOSES VERILY WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE, AS A SERVANT,FOR A TESTIMONY OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TO BE SPOKEN OF AFTER; BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE: WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE IF WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE & THE REJOICING OF THE HOPE FIRM UNTO THE END. WHEREFORE (AS THE HOLY SPIRIT SAYS), TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN THE PROVOCATION, IN THE DAY OF TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS: WHEN YOUR FATHERS TEMPTED ME (GOD, THE SPIRIT, JESUS, THE THREE IN ONE!),PROVED ME, & SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.

WHEREFORE I WAS GRIEVED WITH THAT GENERATION, & SAID, THEY DO ALWAYS ERR IN THEIR HEART; & THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN MY WAYS. SO I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER INTO MY REST “TAKE HEED, BRETHREN,LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, IN DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD.

BUT EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY, WHILE IT IS CALLED ‘TODAY’; LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. FOR WE ARE MADE “PARTAKERS OF CHRIST” “””IF”””!! WE HOLD THE BEGINNNG OF OUR CONFIDENCE STEDFAST (OR FIRM) UNTO THE END.” WOW!!

CHRIST JESUS “IS” KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS, & IF KING JESUS IS IN US, HE’S THERE NOT SIMPLY TO BE ‘PRESENT’ BUT TO ‘PRESIDE’; HE’S IN YOUR HEART NOT TO BE PROMINENT BUT PREEMINENT; “OBEDIENCE” IS NOT AN OPTION IN THE “AGE OF GRACE”!! GEORGE MACDONALD, IN HIS WRITING “MARQUIS OF LOSSIE” (CH.72) WROTE: “I FIND THE DOING OF THE WILL OF GOD,LEAVES ME NO TIME FOR DISPUTING ABOUT HIS PLANS.”

THERE’S AN OLD HYMN WRITTEN BY A LADY NAMED MARY BROWN THAT SAYS: “I’LL GO WHERE YOU WANT ME TO GO, DEAR LORD, O’ER MOUNTAIN OR PLAIN OR SEA; I’LL SAY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY, DEAR LORD, I’LL BE WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE.”I ASK YOU!!!

ARE YOU (“IN CHRIST”) A “CROWNED PRINCE” OR A “CROWNED PRINCESS”? DO “YOU” LIVE IN OBEDIENCE TO KING JESUS?IN “ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”,(PUBLISHED BY FLEMING COM.,WESTWOOD,NJ),IS A COMMENT BY MICHAEL EYQUEM de MONTAIGNE: “THE FIRST LAW THAT EVER GOD GAVE TO MAN WAS A LAW OF OBEDIENCE; IT WAS A COMMANDMENT PURE & SIMPLE; WHEREIN MAN HAD NOTHING TO INQUIRE AFTER OR TO DISPUTE, FOR AS MUCH AS TO OBEY IS THE PROPER OFFICE OF A RATIONAL SOUL ACKNOWLEDGING A HEAVENLY SUPERIOR & BENEFACTOR. FROM OBEDIENCE & SUBMISSION SPRING ALL OTHER VIRTUES, AS ALL SIN DOES FROM SELF-OPINION & SELF-WILL.”

WHEN GOD SPEAKS, LIKE ADAM & EVE, MANY ‘PLAY’ BUT DON’T OBEY!! THEY STILL ‘SIN’ AS THEY ‘PLAY’ THE ‘RELIGIOUS GAME OF ‘PRETENSE’ HOPING OTHERS DON’T SEE THEIR SIN-NATURE IN OPEN DISPLAY AS THEY,YES, CHOOSE THEIR WAY RATHER THAN VICTORY OVER THEIR SIN & SIN-NATURE BY THE BLOOD SHED BY CHRIST ON THE CROSS, CARRYING HIMSELF &YOU TO CALVARY, TO THE GRAVE, BUT 3 DAYS LATER AROSE OUT OF PHYSICAL DEATH INTO SPIRITUAL VICTORY BECAUSE OF THE REVEALED WORD OF GOD! IT WAS JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER WHO WROTE YEARS AGO THESE WORDS: “IN SIMPLE TRUST LIKE THEIRS WHO HEARD BESIDE THE SYRIAN sea, LET US, LIKE THEM, WITHOUT A WORD, RISE UP & FOLLOW THEE.”

CHOSEN BY CHRIST! CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! CHRIST KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR – IF “YOU” INVITE HIM IN, HE OFFERS YOU THE FREE GIFT OF EVERLASTING LIFE, & IT’S YOURS BY REPENTANCE BEFORE GOD & FAITH IN “CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK”! & THE RESULT? HOW ABOUT CROWNDED PRINCES & CROWNDED PRINCESSES?

CROWNED PRINCES –CROWNED PRINCESSES?IF I REFER TO THEM, NOT AS SOME NATION’S KIDS UNDER A GOVERNOR’S RULE, BUT AS CHOSEN SERVANTS OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS, DO YOU GET A CLEAR GLIMPSE AS TO WHERE I AM HEADED IN THIS PRECIOUS WORD & WILL OF GOD?

1 PETER 4:10-19 INFORMS US: “AS EVERY MAN HAS RECEIVED THE GIFT (A MAN, A WOMAN WHO HAS REPENTED & TRUSTED!),EVEN SO MINISTER THE SAME ONE TO ANOTHER, AS ‘GOOD STEWARDS’ OF THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD. IF ANY MAN SPEAK, LET HIM SPEAK AS THE ORACLES OF GOD; IF ANY MAN MINISTER, LET HIM DO IT AS OF THE ABILITY WHICH “GOD GIVES”; THAT GOD IN ALL THINGS MAY BE GLORIFIED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, TO WHOM BE PRAISE & DOMINION FOREVER & EVER. AMEN (OR SO BE IT!).

BELOVED, THINK IT NOT STRANGE CONCERNING THE FIERY TRIAL “WHICH IS TO TRY YOU”(OH, BUT IN THE 21^ST CENTURY, ‘WE WORRY ABOUT THAT? THESE ARE ‘SMOOTH’ DAYS; RIGHT?). WRONG? THE WORLD, THE OLD SIN NATURE, & SATAN & HIS DEMONS STILL STRUT IN PROUD ARROGANCE TO TAKE YOU AS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS DOWN – THEY WANT YOU MARRED,SCARRED, & HARDENED BY ‘DECEIT, PRIDE,& THE PULL OF THAT DECEITFUL NATURE OF SIN THAT STILL CAN DECEIVE!). PETER GOES ON,

VERSES 13-19 SAYS, “BUT REJOICE, INASMUCH AS YOU ARE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS; THAT, WHEN HIS GLORY SHALL BE REVEALED, YOU MAY BE GLAD ALSO WITH EXCEEDING JOY.

IF YOU BE REPROACHED FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST, HAPPY ARE YOU; FOR THE SPIRIT OF GLORY & OF GOD RESTS UPON YOU:ON THEIR PART JESUS IS EVIL SPOKEN OF, BUT ON YOUR PART JESUS IS GLORIFIED.BUT LET ONE OF YOU SUFFER AS A MURDERER, OR AS A THIEF, OR AS AN EVILDOER, OR AS A BUSYBODY IN OTHER MEN’S MATTERS.

BUT LET NONE OF YOU SUFFER AS A MURDERER, OR AS A THIEF, OR AS AN EVILDOER,OR AS A BUSYBODY IN OTHER MEN’S MATTERS. YET IF ANY MAN SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN,LET HIM NOT BE ASHAMED; BUT LET HIM GLORIFY GOD ON THIS BEHALF. FOR THE TIME HAS COME (IS THAT TIME COMING AROUND OUR WORLD TODAY?) THAT JUDGMENT MUST BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD:AND IF IT FIRST BEGINS WITH US, WHAT SHALL THE END BE OF THEM THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF GOD?

AND IF THE RIGHTEOUS SCARCELY BE SAVED, WHERE SHALL THE UNGODLY & THE SINNER APPEAR? WHEREFORE LET THEM THAT SUFFER ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD COMMIT THE KEEPING OF THEIR SOULS TO “HIM” IN WELL-DOING, AS UNTO A FAITHFUL CREATOR.”

CROWNED PRINCES – CROWNED PRINCESSES SERVING THE KING OF KINGS? I WANT TO CLOSE THIS MESSAGE WITH THE HYMN ENTITLED “CROWN HIM WITH MANY CROWNS”. (THE AMERICAN HYMNAL, BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.1933).

“CROWN HIM WITH MANY CROWNS, THE LAMB UPON HIS THRONE; HARK! HOW THE HEAVENLY ANTHEM DROWNS ALL MUSIC BUT ITS OWN! AWAKE, MY SOUL, & SING OF HIM WHO DIED FOR THEE; AND HAIL HIM AS YOUR MATCHLESS KING THRO’ ALL ETERNITY.

CROWN HIM THE LORD OF LOVE! BEHOLD HIS HANDS & SIDE,- RICH WOUNDS,YET VISIBLE ABOVE, IN BEAUTY GLORIFIED: NO ANGEL IN THE SKY CAN FULLY BEAR THAT SIGHT, BUT DOWNWARD BENDS HIS WOND’RING EYE AT MYSTERIES SO BRIGHT.

CROWN HIM THE LORD OF LIFE! WHO TRIUMPHED O’ER THE GRAVE; WHO ROSE VICTORIOUS TO THE STRIFE FOR THOSE HE CAME TO SAVE: HIS GLORIES NOW WE SING, WHO DIED & ROSE ON HIGH; WHO DIED ETERNAL LIFE TO BRING, & LIVES THAT DEATH MAY DIE.

CROWN HIM THE LORD OF HEAVEN! ONE WITH THE FATHER KNOWN, ONE WITH THE SPIRIT THRO’ HIM GIVEN FROM YONDER GLORIOUS THRONE! TO YOU,LORD,BE ENDLESS PRAISE, FOR “YOU” FOR US DID DIE; BE THOU, O LORD, THRO’ ENDLESS DAYS ADORED & MAGNIFIED.”

WOULD “YOU” DARE SHOUT: “GLORY BE TO GOD ALMIGHTY FOR HIS GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE, SO PROVEN BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIS OWN SON THAT WE MIGHT BE RESTORED TO “HIS KINGDOM LIVING FOREVER & EVER”??!!

CROWNED PRINCES-CROWNED PRINCESSES? IN 2 PETER 1, VERSES 1-7, IS PETER’S INSPIRED WORD ON GOD’S GRACIOUSNESS & POWER THAT IS AVAILABLE TO ALL TRUE REPENTANT & FAITHFUL BELIEVERS! FOLLOWED IN VERSES 8-11,& VERSE 16, THEN I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE.

2 PETER 1:1-7 SAYS, SIMON PETER, A SERVANT & AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST, TO THEM THAT HAVE OBTAINED LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH WITH US THROUGH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD & OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST: GRACE & PEACE BE MULTIPLIED UNTO YOU THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, & OF JESUS OUR LORD,

ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE & GODLINESS,THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM THAT HAS CALLED US TO GLORY & VIRTUE: WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT & PRECIOUS: THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF THE “DIVINE NATURE”, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST. AND BESIDE THIS,GIVING ALL DILIGENCE,ADD TO YOUR FAITH VIRTUE; & TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE; & TO KNOWLEDGE TEMPERANCE; & TO TEMPERANCE PATIENCE; & TO PATIENCE GODLINESS; AND TO GODLINESS BROTHERLY KINDNESS; & TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS CHARITY.

THEN EXAMINE VERSES 8-11! FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, &ABOUND, THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. “BUT” HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, & HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS. WHEREFORE THE RATHER,BRETHREN, “GIVE” DILIGENCE, TO MAKE YOUR CALLING & ELECTION SURE;FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.” THEN, VERSE 16!! “FOR WE HAVE NOT FOLLOWED CUNNINGLY DEVISED FABLES, WHEN WE MADE KNOWN UNTO YOU THE POWER & COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BUT WERE EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY.” GLORY!!

ARE “YOU” AN EYEWITNESS OF HIS MAJESTY? HE SAYS, AS HE KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR, “OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR MIND, HEART, & WILL, & I WILL COME IN! BY MY LOVE, GRACE, & MERCY, I’LL CROWN YOU AS “CROWNED PRINCES & CROWNED PRINCESSES” IN MY KINGDOM LIVING OF HEAVENLY GLORY, DIVINE LOVE & POWER,SONS OF ETERNAL FAITH! AMEN? & WE’RE CALLED TO BARE FRUIT

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES!”

Troubling Tombs? Troubling Tombs of Godless lives, like self-centered lives striving in a Godless existence, even striving to find meaning to life without God but assured in self, worldly, demonic deception that your life will work it out and find meaning, a sense of peace and purpose without Him, though for most with godless minds, they never consider what or who or why life has to be a struggle finding any sense of blessing or peace or satisfaction as they see it, doing so without eternal identity and eternal purpose!

Troubling Tombs of Godless Lives? When in James 1:8 the brother of Jesus said, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways,” you get a true picture of a godless life that has a hint of a God-filled life as a possibility, but has no desire to die to the ‘flesh’, the old sin-nature, or devotion to a world of unbelief – he, she desires, though troubled, because their greater allegiance is satisfying the ‘fullness of the flesh’ rather than experiencing “New Birth” in and through the Holy Spirit!

Troubling Tombs of Godless Lives? How clear do you find the words of Christ Jesus in Luke 11:34 when He said: “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single (Settled in on God alone in His love, grace, and mercy!), your whole body is full of light; but when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.” Some say Jesus was “too strong” in His words about lives that choose to accept, visit, remember, hold on to, indulge in a false confession of faith with one foot stepping forward in Him and the other foot yielding to the world, the old sin-nature, and, yes, to Satanic, demonic deception! Haven’t you crossed paths with, yes, many ‘religious’ (?) people who want the best of both worlds?

Troubling Tombs of Godless Lives? Is that a “downcast life”, a life that seldom, if ever, looks UP toward the King of kings and Lord of lords, as He sits on His throne ready to respond to the needy, empty, sin-sick soul, though they mentally, at times, at least ‘wanting’ to be religious without being ‘dead to the old sin-nature’, but they never ever consider being made ‘alive’ in the Resurrection Presence of the Reigning Lord and Savior?

Troubling Tombs of Godless Lives? How easy is it for Godless lives, even some modern-day ‘religious profess-ors’, to ‘profess’ but never “POSSESS” the fullness of the blessing of the Resurrected Christ? There are ‘religious-cave-dwellers’ that are not just prehistoric men but modern-day-religious pretenders dwelling in the cave of self-determination, “saying” one thing about their ‘faith’ (?) but “living” still in their ‘godless life’, though they sing about “blessed assurance” as they practice their “cursed existence”!!

Troubling Tombs of Godless Lives? How aware are you of the disease of “the reverence of a man’s self-nature”, so in love with his/her ‘fleshly passions’, that he/she never looks to the eternal Truth of, yes, “crucified with Christ”; or, as some, they profess allegiance to the false expression: “God helps those who help themselves, saying “I try”, rather than truly trusting in Christ’s finished work at the Cross”, or, “Do your best”, as religiously they bow at the altar of ‘self-control’ rather than “resting” in Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope IN “Christ Only, One’s Only Hope of the Glorified Life”!!

Troubling Tombs of Godless Lives? Oh, how easy it is for far too many people to live in a false pretense of faith rather than the “blessed assurance” in and through Christ alone! Alexander MacLaren once said, “All along the Christian course, there must be set up altars to God on which you sacrifice yourself, or you will never advance a step.” This is why in Galatians 2:20 Paul said, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in this fleshly body I live by The Faith of The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me,” adding in Verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God!”

In the short but sensational word of Jude you find him writing about “pretenders”, though they ‘dressed’ daily in imitation garbs! In Verses 3-5 and Verses 8-15 Jude exposes not only those in his day but also those in modern centuries and in our current century who live the “victimized life of religious pretense” filling some church pews!!

Jude said, Verses 3-5, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

For THERE ARE CERTAIN MEN CREPT IN UNAWARES, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will therefore put YOU in remembrance, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

Verses 8-15 then says: Likewise also these filthy dreamers (who) DEFILE THE FLESH, DESPISE (CHRIST’S) DOMINION, AND SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNITIES. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you.

But, these speak evil of those things which they know not; but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints,

To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

It was Sir Francis Bacon in his writing, “New Atlantis”, who said: “The reverence of a man’s self is, next to religion, the chiefest bridle of all vices.” Have you ever crossed paths, in a local church, with ‘active’ church members who are ‘brain and heart dead’ to “taking the sentence of death daily to the mortal sin-nature that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in and through their mortal flesh?”

Oh, and reflect upon the startling, shocking, awakening words of Charles Caleb Colton, (The Enclypodia of Religious Quotations, p.397, Fleming H. Revell Company, Westwood, New Jersey)!! “Heroism, magnanimity, and self-denial, in all instances in which they do not spring from a principle of religion (and, I say, “Biblical Faith”!), are but splendid altars on which we sacrifice one kind of self-love to another.”

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES ARE DARKENED HEARTS SADLY DENYING RESURRECTION LIFE IN AND THROUGH CHRIST ONLY!

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES ARE DARKENED HEARTS DOMINATED BY FLESHLY “WARPED WITS”!!

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES ARE DARKENED HEARTS STILL SATISFIED WITH HIGHLY EDUCATED WORLDLY WILLS, YES, CELEBRATED BY SATAN AND HIS DEMONIC DECEIVERS!!!

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES ARE INDIVIDUALS VICTIMIZED BY THE POWERS OF DARKNESS RADIATING THE “FLESHLY LIGHTS OF SEIF-IMPORTANCE AND SELF-INDULGENCE” WITH NO NEED OF BEING RESCUED BY GOD!

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES ARE LIVES JOHN MILTON ONCE DESCRIBED AS: “HE WHO REIGNS HIMSELF AND RULES HIS PASSIONS, DESIRES, AND FEARS IS MORE THAN A KING,” and, I say,- “HE, SHE IS A DECEIVED SINNER WITHOUT ANY NEED OF A SAVIOR SINCE “SELF-RULE” STUPIDLY REIGNS!!”

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES ARE LIVES RADIATING THE ‘DARKNESS’ OF CAGED SELFISHNESS THOUGH ‘PROFESSING’ A RELIGIOUS FAITH!

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES? OH, THERE IS FOR MANY A TROUBLING AWARENESS OF THEIR ‘SIN-NATURE’ BUT IN THEIR DARKENED HEARTS AND BONDAGED-SELF-WILL NO AWARENESS OF THE NEED OF GOD’S INTERVENTION – THEY CAN HANDLE THEIR ‘MENTAL MISTAKES”! REALLY?

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES? HAVE YOU EVER CROSSED PATHS WITH,YES, CROWDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE APPRECIATIVELY INFORMED ABOUT CHRIST’S “BLOOD SACRIFICE” IN THEIR BEHALF BUT SEE AT AS AN UNNECESSARY EVENT BY GOD SINCE THEY SEE THEMSELVES AS RELIGIOUSLY “OK”?

TROUBLING TOMBS OF GODLESS LIVES? “BELIEF” THAT IS DARKENED UNBELIEF THAT DESTROYS BECAUSE, THOUGH “CONFESSING CHRIST”, ONE’S WALK- HIS PATH, HER PILGRIMAGE-IS AN IMMORAL DESERT WHERE ONE CONTINUES TO WALK DEAFENED TO THE PRECIOUS VOICE OF GOD AND BLINDED TO HIS FOOTSTEPS TO CALVERY, OUT OF THE TOMB, BUT HIS CONTIUNUING WALK WORLD-WIDE TO KNOCK ON THE DOORS OF MEN’S HEARTS! HAVE YOU OPENED THE DOOR TO THE SAVIOR’S LORDSHIP AND SOVEREIGN REIGN OVER YOUR WALK, YOUR PATH, YOUR PILGRIMAGE TO HONOR HIM DAILY? It was Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in her writing “The Cry of the Human”, who wrote:“There is no God,” the foolish says, But none, “There is no sorrow”; And nature oft the cry of faith In bitter need will borrow. Eyes which the preacher could not school, By wayside graves are raised; And lips say, “God be pitiful,” Who never said, “God be praised.”

Sadly, yes, across many ‘Christian paths’, people walk and talk and pretend but are blinded in unbelief by the mind of religious human reasoning, superficial in religious thoughts and pretense, but void of Resurrection Presence – Christ knocked, but they didn’t answer because their pretense was sufficient rather than His Presence!

How clear and convicting was Paul when in 1 Corinthians 13:11 he wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Are You ruled by ‘self-love’ or fully embraced and overflowing with your love for Christ Jesus who suffered, bled, and died on the Cross of Calvary as He, yes, carried YOU with Him to be “crucified with Christ”? In Mark 8:34 Jesus said: “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS (DYING DAILY!), AND FOLLOW ME.” For YOU? A TROUBLED TOMB OR TRIUMPHANT IN JESUS?

In the old “American Hymnal” of 1938, Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, is a hymn entitled, “O For A Faith That Will Not Shrink.” It says:

“O for a faith that will not shrink Tho’ pressed by many a foe, That will not tremble on the brink Of poverty or woe.

That will not murmur nor complain Beneath the chastening rod, But in the hour of grief or pain Can lean upon its God.

A faith that shimes more bright and clear When tempests rage without, That, when in danger, knows no fear, In darkness feels no doubt.

Lord, give me such a faith as this, And then, whatever may come, I taste even now my hallowed bliss Of my eternal home.”

Can YOU say Amen to that Truth? Are YOU settled and cemented in Christ alone, or do you ‘rest’ in your fleshly self?

Are YOU a TROUBLED TOMB OR HIS TRIUMPHANT TEMPLE OF ETERNAL PRESENCE REIGNING VICTORIOUSLY THROUGH YOU?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“CRIMINALIZED FOR STANDING FOR THE TRUTH”!

At a “National Hispanic Leadership Conference” in Houston, Texas, April 29, 2015, former Florida governor and presidential candidate, at the time, Jeb Bush, said: “There is no more powerful and liberating influence on this earth than the Christian conscience in action and today in America it is important to respect and to protect Christians acting on their faith…not just talking about their faith, but there is a constitutional right and more importantly for a loving society Christians need to have the space to be able to act on their conscience.” My only problem with his statement is, that often, the ‘Christian conscience’ is willful determination of ‘flesh’ opinions rather than Holy Word of God revelation!

It wasn’t long ago, maybe same day as Jeb Bush, that former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, said, maybe same conference, “We are living in perilous times where people who are Christian are on the brink of being criminalized for their convictions.”

And both men, stressing their beliefs, are easily, in this day and time, set aside and considered ‘radical’ by ‘godless’ or even ‘misinformed’ professing believers who don’t stand on the Word of God! It’s difficult to “stand for Truth” when one’s foundation is built on “self-evaluation” rather than “God-revealed-Holy Truth”!

We can go all the way back to Joshua’s day when in Joshua 24:14-15 we read, Joshua speaking, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We live in days as a nation that are not foreign to any nation, any people, or even to one, and can visualize what goes on anywhere, anytime, with any persons, just like the historical history of Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross several thousand years ago! Come with me to Luke 23, beginning with Verse 32! “There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”

The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” {“If”? Are you aware of the reality of literally millions and millions, more likely billions, who understand, ‘There IS the King of the Jews, the King of all Americans, the King of every European, African, or Asian’ but who selfishly decide for themselves as to whether or not they will choose to serve the Lord?!?}.

In Luke 23:34 then tells us that Christ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do,” {Which is so true of literally millions and millions who do not know what they do when they trivialize Christ, join those who divide His garments and “roll the dice” hoping what He says is not true – BUT IT IS!}. Even the rulers of Israel SNEERED, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”

Don’t you find that so interesting? They had an inkling about ‘the Christ, the chosen of God,’ but couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t receive the prophetic word from many of their prophets hundreds and hundreds of years before His actual coming! Do you remember Jesus saying in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad”? Verse 57 follows, Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” In Verse 58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” And their response? THEN they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them (the “stone-throwers”), and SO PASSED (THEM) by.” {Will Jesus have to “pass you by” when all are brought before His Throne of Judgment, whether you like it or not?}.

In Luke 23:36-38 we read: The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrews: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Didn’t we just read in Luke 23:33, “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.” At least Luke KNEW Jesus was not a criminal, but, as God in the flesh, Who willingly offered Himself as THE sacrifice for the sins of all humanity! Even John, early in his writing of the Gospel of John, John 1:14, wrote: “And the Word (the Living Word of God!!) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” proclaiming in Verse 29, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Examine John 1:32-35! And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ AND I HAVE SEEN AND TESTIFIED THAT THIS IS THE SON OF GOD.” Again, the next day, John stood with two of His disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

Dare I tell you that Christ Jesus IS “the Way of Life” that leads to the “way of death”? In Matthew 10:16-18,21-22 Jesus challenged the original ‘twelve disciples’, saying to them, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

Verses 21-22 then says, “Now brother will deliver up brother TO DEATH, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

It is so evidently true that to “follow Christ Jesus” is to follow Him in every step He had to take, including the way of ‘suffering’, the way of ‘rejection’, the way of ‘obedience’, willing to fulfill the Father’s eternal will: death to Himself that resurrection life and hope could, would, and was manifested! Oh, and then in John 20, after His crucifixion and burial and resurrection, in Verses 19-21, we read:

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” John 20:30-31 then says: And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

And do you understand that “life in His name” does not come in full fruition apart from the awareness of and willingness to die daily to the ‘flesh’, the old sin-nature, and self-will, plus, a readiness of physical death by persecution if it comes your way, BECAUSE you will not deny Him?

In 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 Apostle Paul wrote: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death (“the wages of sin is death”!), and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”! Did Holy God, the Father, allow Jesus’ death and then manifest His Holy Power to raise the dead after Jesus’ three days in the grave?

And, how pleased is God the Father for the willingness of 21^st Century disciples to offer their lives daily as a “willing sacrifice” taking that sentence daily to themselves that His Resurrection Life may be manifested in their mortal flesh?

Do you remember Paul and Silas imprisoned, Acts 16:20-24? It says: And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” ( Ever heard it yourself? “We’re free Americans and not interested in anything you ‘Christians’ have to say! Keep on, and we’ll have you imprisoned, or kill you ourselves!”}. [I actually heard that threat in India as I preached openly on the streets!].

Continuing in Acts 16:22-24, Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

That was a literal event for faithful believers, and it does still happen today that some believers are physically jailed for faithful testimonies in certain locations. BUT there IS a ‘symbolism’ which extends to many today who are vocal for the faith but ostracized by ‘friends’ and ‘family’, opponents shutting the door on them for their outspoken challenge to receive Christ!

“CRIMINALIZED FOR STANDING FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD’S HOLY WORD”? Are you aware of Christian Institutional and openly, strong, faithful disciples of Christ witnessing a rapidly growing opposition and threats because of many enemies of God who are becoming openly hostile to the Word and Will of God and against those who uphold “All Scripture is divinely inspired…”?

Prayer is rapidly being removed from classrooms with kids being told “School is not a place to pray!” Really? Yes, really! Ten Commandments are being removed from lots of places across the Nation where the banners of Truth used to fly! In Sweden pastors have been jailed for opposing homosexuality – and that threat is not far away in the U.S.A.!

There’s an active homosexual- sick man named Mitchell Gold whose diatribe against the Word of God and churches, pastors, and faithful disciples who stand on that Word of God, who has said, “They must be made to take homosexuality off the sin list,” and a New York Time’s writer, Frank Bruni, affirmed Gold’s obscene opposition to Holy God and His Word, saying, “His commandment (that’s Mitchell Gold’s commandment) is worthy – and warranted.”

And what sickens me is when I hear some say of their pastors, “They’ll not expose or speak the Truth because they don’t want to offend ANYBODY!” God, help us! It’s as if our formerly great nation, “one nation under God”, is fast becoming a nation under opposition to God!

“CRIMINALIZED FOR STANDING FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD’S HOLY WORD”? I want to urge you right now to commit yourself to reading faithfully, over and over, the Book of Daniel for at least a week! In Daniel you’ll find, not trivializing Truth, but many who want Biblical Truth obliterated from the national scene or stage! Follow Daniel 6:1-16!

It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.

So the governors and satraps SOUGHT TO FIND SOME CHARGE AGAINST DANIEL concerning the kingdom; BUT THEY COULD FIND NO CHARGE OR FAULT, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”

So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him, “King Darius, live forever! All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisers, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows opened toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.”

So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”

And the king, when he heard these words was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”

SO the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”

In Verses 21-22 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

AND the accusers, on the king’s command, were all cast into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den!!!

What was King Darius’ response? He wrote a proclamation! Verses 25-28 says: “To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end.

He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of lions.” So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Glory!

“CRIMINALIZED FOR STANDING FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD’S HOLY WORD”? John 8 is a strong chapter defining Christ’s strong “Personal Witness” against the ‘religious’ Pharisees who determined He deserved to die because He opposed their religious pretense and no true eternal foundation upon which they walked and talked “the game” yet they never faced their guilt, sin, and separation from Holy God, and certainly had no ears to hear both prophetic utterances from hundreds and hundreds of years before or His declaration of Messianic identity!

Jesus told them in John 8:19, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” Oh, and then in John 8:23-24 Jesus released the eternal arrow of Truth about the scribes and Pharisees and the ‘religious but unredeemed’ Jews: “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”

In John 8:37-47 Jesus then said: “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I

heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

So…Christ Jesus Himself was ‘criminalized’ by the religious, unbelieving, unrepentant crowd and CRUCIFIED ON THE CROSS for all men because of God’s great love for the world!

What went on then still goes on today! The unbelieving world still condemns the holy and congratulates the hollow; the unbelieving world sentences the sincere and celebrates the sinner; the unbelieving world imprisons the faithful and frees the ‘foul’ from any and every offense; the unbelieving world still maligns the merciful and merits the ‘molded’ in mind and heart!

It was Harriet Beecher Stowe who once said: “No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man. Life and death to him are haunted grounds, filled with goblin forms of vague and shadowy dread.” And, in most cases, it’s the godless man criminalizing those who stand for, in, and through the truth, resulting, for them, a Hell forever with the devil, his demons, and all rejecters of Biblical Truth, and all sin-infected ‘profound minds’, and all ‘superficial thinkers’ who know nothing about standing on Eternal Truth!

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

GOD DWELLS WHERE THE THRONE IS!!

Revelation 4:1-5:14

It’s not seen with the visible eye, but every life has a throne – and WHO sits on that throne defines that life.

Life is not defined by outward appearances but is defined by the authority on the throne of that life.

It is not explained by educational degrees, bank accounts, or even meritorious accomplishments – it’s explained by WHO gets the glory.

Life is not explained by beauty, talent, genes, abilities or the lack of them, religious inclinations or the lack of them, ancestral heritage or the lack of it, hall of fame awards or the lack of them – LIFE is defined by either a temporal throne or the Eternal Throne.

It’s either a throne of religious devotion or The THRONE OF REDEMPTIVE MERCY.

It’s either a throne of self-declaration as ‘god’ unto myself or submission in the heart at the Throne of Sovereign, Mighty God.

It’s either a throne of self-reflection or the Throne of God where repentance is the welcome Door-Opener to an Eternal relationship with Him.

It’s either a throne of self-satisfaction consumed by constant introspection or the Throne of a life bent toward God because His drawing power of us was not in vain.

Do you remember the godless saying to the Psalmist, Psalm 42:3. “Where is your God?” Can I tell you?

“God dwells where the Throne is” – not your throne but His Throne. He’s at home where His Throne has been established. He’s honored where He feels welcomed and received.

As John Piper so ably expressed, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Jesus put it even clearer when in John 14:23 He said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.”

Do you see it? A God-loving heart, a welcoming home, and a Royal Throne.

In Revelation 4 and 5, 14 times the word, ‘throne’ is used. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says of the word ‘throne’, “The place where God peculiarly manifests his power and glory…sovereign power and dignity…”

Psalm 99:1-3 declares: “The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved!…The Lord is great in Zion. And He is high above all the peoples…Let them praise Your great and awesome name – He is holy.”

“Where is your God?” He’s seated on His throne, He reigns on His throne, He dwells on His throne, and He feels at home on His throne.

And my one driving ambition of life should be to be raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places. Where is that? Let’s see what God’s Word is telling us – I want you to see 9 truths:

GOD DWELLS WHERE THE THRONE IS? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

First, God dwells on THE THRONE OF SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY. Revelation 4:1, “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I WILL SHOW YOU THINGS WHICH MUST TAKE PLACE AFTER THIS.”

How do you read that? Are you side-tracked onto a path of prophetic utterances or is God revealing Himself? “I will show you…I will explain what’s to take place…I, as absolute Monarch, I as Sovereign Ruler, will tell you what is about to happen.”

We think life is ‘chance;’ we believe life is just ‘a roll of the dice;’ we’re convinced ‘whatever will be will be’ and WHOMEVER (God) has nothing to do with it; we believe ‘free will’ trumps divine influence and God is left out in the cold; we believe man is something in himself and God is an option he can take or omit when the truth is God Sovereignly rules and He will have mercy on whom He wills to have mercy!

Listen to me, we ought to rush the Throne of Sovereign Authority. We ought to take hold of the horns of the altar and, with Jacob, cry out, “I’ll not let go until YOU bless me.” We ought to be caught up in the Sovereign wind currents of Holy Grace resting our lives at the foot of His Throne.

Listen to Paul instructing Timothy in I Timothy 6:15-16, “… He who is the blessed and only [Sovereign], the King of kings and Lord of lords… who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, TO WHOM BE HONOR AND EVERLASTING POWER.

AMEN.”

Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”

The question is, ARE YOU SUBMITTED TO HIS SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY?

Second, God’s Word tells us A THRONE OF MERCY IS AVAILABLE! Look at Revelation 4:3, “And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a RAINBOW around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.”

In Ezekial chapter one, verse 26, God’s Word speaks about “a throne,” and then, in verse 28, it says: “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it.” And I hear a Word from the heart of God:

“Your life has been dark clouds, it’s been rainy days, the storms have been so intense upon you, but look up – there’s a rainbow, which means behind your darkest clouds the Sun still shines, behind your darkest days, God reigns with mercy-drops; to this point the testimony of your pilgrimage has been hollow and meaningless with blackness in your heart – but look up because your redemption draws nigh! Look up, open wide, and let those mercy-drops of God settle within your life!!

Listen to Psalm 147:11, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those WHO HOPE IN HIS MERCY.”

You probably know Psalm 23 by memory, but let me share it: “The Lord id my shepherd, I shall not want..He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters…He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake…Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; For Thou art with me.; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me…Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows… Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

What did Paul say to the Ephesian church? “But God who is rich in mercy…” That’s it! That’s where God dwells!!

Where do you dwell? Where have you settled on your residence? And I’m not talking about the country you are from! What do you call your permanent home? What is your address?

Write it down! My address is “Hope in God’s Mercy Alone.” My permanent residence is not personal merit but Providential Mercy. It’s not my attainment but appropriation of His ATONEMENT. My dwelling place is not on the avenue or street of disciplined ‘doing’ but the DIVINE “DONE” – “It is finished” – and I rest in God’s mercy alone!

“O the love that drew salvation’s plan! O the grace that brought it down to man! O the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary…

Mercy there was GREAT, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty AT CALVARY.”

Where does God dwell? On the THRONE! And third, we see that throne IS A THRONE OF AWESOME SPIRIT-ANOINTING!! Revelation 4:5, “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, WHICH ARE THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD.”

I so love what Reinhard Bonnke had to say in his book, “Mighty Manifestations.” (p9), “A powerless gospel preacher is like an unwashed soap salesman.”.

How many disciples do you know who’ve crossed over into the realm of the supernatural because of the “New Birth” but continue to live as if they are only ‘natural’ beings?

It’s why Paul, in I Corinthians 3:3, spoke of those Corinthian disciples “behaving like mere men!!”

In Acts 2, Peter quotes the prophet Joel, in verses 17 and 18, God speaking, “I will pour out My Spirit…I will pour out My Spirit in those days,” and then Peter says, in verse 39, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Later, (p35), Bonnke said, “Without that vitality we have a secularized, nominalized, anglicized, rationalized, and harmless religion.” I don’t want a harmless religion – I want where God Himself feels at home in supernatural anointings, enduements with power from on high, and where God’s people walk in Spirit-baptisms!!

Listen to Chuck Swindoll in “Flying Closer To The Flame,” (p.75), “What fuel is to a car, the Holy Spirit is to the believer. He ENERGIZES us to stay the course. He motivates us in spit of the obstacles. He keeps us going when the road gets rough. It is the Spirit who comforts us in our distress, who calms us in times of calamity, who becomes our companion in loneliness and grief, who spurs our “intuition” into action, who fills our minds with discernment when we are uneasy about a certain decision. In short, He is our spiritual fuel. When we attempt to operate without Him or to use some substitute fuel, all systems grind to a halt.”

Fourth, God Dwells Where The Throne Is, A THRONE OF UNENDING ADORATION! Revelation 4:8, “and they do not rest day or night, saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

Adoration, worship, praise is not simply a bodily position (although we do bow down) but an attitude of the heart. Adoration is not simply acknowledgement of God but selfless surrender and constant commitment to Who He Is and What He Desires! Adoration is more than “respectful and formal recognition of God” – Jesus put it like this to Satan in Matthew 4:10, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”

Did you see it? “…worship…and…serve.” Worship and the walk. Worship and the witness. Worship and the waiting. Worship and willful yielding to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Psalm 84:4 says, “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever and ever praising You.” You want to know where God dwells?

Look at Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable spiritual service of worship.”

Fifth, God Dwells Where The Throne Is, A THRONE OF THE ETERNAL! Revelation 4:9-10, “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, WHO LIVES FOREVER AND EVER…the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever…”

And the one thing I want you to grasp is resolving where you center your life and your walk – on that which is so temporal or upon Him Who Is Eternal?

In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, “I Am Who I AM;” “I Am Who I Always Was;” “I Am Always The Present I Am,” and…”I Am Is He Who Will Always Be!!”

In Genesis 21:33 He’s called “The Everlasting God.” In Psalms 90:2, Moses said, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” And the one thing you must lay hold of here is that mankind either centers its life upon what is so temporary or centers its life upon that which is Eternal! You have a choice.

And this is our Gospel message and is to be our Gospel preaching – I John 5:20-21, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true: and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God AND eternal life.” That’s where I want to dwell!!

Sixth, God Dwells Where The Throne Is, A THRONE OF SUBMISSION AND SURRENDER! Revelation 4:10, end of the verse, these worshippers “cast their crowns before the throne…”

They lay everything down at the feet of Jesus. They take “hands off” of the governing of their lives. They, with Saul of Tarsus, say, “Lord, what would You have me to do?’

If “As Jesus Is, So Am I” is true, and it is, then I must find my holy place of Gethsemane, and I must say deliberately, willingly, passionately as Jesus, (Matthew 26:39), “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; NEVERTHELESS, not as I will, but as You WILL.”

God dwells where the Throne is where men are casting their crowns at His feet. God dwells where self-will dies and Divine Will is uppermost. God dwells where men hear His voice and go out not even knowing where they’re going – but God has spoken and we must follow. God dwells where human will is swallowed up by Divine Life.

“I am resolved no longer to linger, Charmed by the world’s delight; Things that are higher, things that are nobler, These have allured my sight…

I am resolved to follow the Savior, Faithful and true each day; Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth, He is the living way…

I am resolved to enter the kingdom, Leaving the paths of sin; Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me, Still I will enter in…” [Palmer Hartsougfh]

Seventh, God Dwells Where The Throne Is, A THRONE OF UNVEILING OF THE PRESENCE OF THE WORTHY LAMB! Revelation 5:1-6

God dwells where Jesus is honored. God dwells where the Son of God is lifted up. God dwells where the Savior is magnified. God dwells where the Worthy Lamb is unveiled.

He’s the Lion of the House of Praise, He’s the Root of King David, He’s the sacrificial Lamb, He’s the Friend of Sinners, He’s the Loving Savior, He’s the Merciful Master…And He says, (John 12:32), “And I, if I am lifted from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

I want to be drawn to Jesus more and more. I want to lift Him up more and more. I want to exalt the name that is above every name. I want to pray more and more, “Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.”

I want to “Preach Christ and Him crucified!” I want to preach “The Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords.” I want to create expectancy that “The King Is Coming,” Prepare to meet Him.

Preach it, pastors, REDEEMED, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (I Peter 1:19)

Eighth, God Dwells Where The Throne IS, A THRONE OF SYMPHONIC PRAISE AND WORSHIP! Revelation 5:9-13

How many do you know who sing old songs, dead songs, man-inspired songs, but they have nothing to do with what matters most. Redemption is absent. Reconciliation is a foreign language. Regeneration is not simply a mystery – it’s a lost language.

But when the Lamb is lifted up – there’s a “new song,” there’s a new symphony, there’s a new orchestra, there are new singers, and with loud voices they make much of the Worthy Lamb.

Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to Him – and they major on that. Spurgeon wrote: “A heart full of praise is heaven in the bud. Perfect praise is heaven full-blown.” Why? Because of our redemption through the blood of Christ, “Heaven came down and Glory filled our souls!!”

We sing of the mercies of our Lord forever and ever. We sing of the marvelous, wondrous grace f God forever and ever. We sing of the love of God forever and ever.

Luke 19:37-40, “And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, saying…”Blessed Is The King Who Comes In The Name Of The Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”…And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”…And Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these become silent, THE STONES WILL CRY OUT!”

I don’t want to be a hardened rock that someday acknowledges Christ ashamedly – I want to be “a living stone” that worships Him so appreciatively!! (Revelation 5:12)

Lastly, God Dwells Where The Throne Is, A THRONE OF A COMPLETED WORK BECAUSE OF OUR PRAYER OF AGREEMENT! Revelation 5:14, “Then the four living creatures said, “AMEN!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped Him who lives forever and ever.”

“AMEN?” “It is done – It is finished – So be it, Lord. We stand upon Calvary’s completed work. We rest in the resurrection out of our empty tombs. We claim only the finished work of Christ. Our merit is Your mercy. Our hope is Your help. Our salvation is Your sacrifice. Our life is Your death, burial, and Resurrection. Our past and present has a future – His Name Is Jesus Only!! “AMEN!!”

Nehemiah 8:6, “And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, ‘Amen! Amen!’”

Psalm 41:13, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.”

Psalm 72:19, “And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.”

Psalm 106:48, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’”

Jeremiah 28:6, Jeremiah, “Amen! The Lord do so; the Lord perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord’s house…”

Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. AMEN.”

Ephesians 3:21, “to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. AMEN.”

2 Peter 3:18, “To Him be the glory both now and forever. AMEN.”

I John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. AMEN.”

Revelation 22:20, He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” AMEN. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Verse 21, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. AMEN.”

Will you put an AMEN into your life? Will you put an AMEN into your prayers? Will you put an AMEN into your home, your church, your business, your ministry? AMEN – it’s finished! AMEN – SO BE IT, LORD, only according to Your signature.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY!”

EPHESIANS 5:14

God says: “Awake, you who ‘SLEEP’, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light!”

Isn’t it amazing to you that the Holy Word of God is so filled with biblical Truth about those “choosing” to “live in the dark,” “sleepy-time lives”, totally unaware of their ‘fleshly destinies’? In Proverbs 6:4-5 the wise man wrote: “Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from THE hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler (or ‘hunter’ who seeks to slay you!).” And then in Verses 6-11 the wise man continued, desiring to “wake us all up” from the “sleep” of spiritual death, alienation from God, incapable of personal deliverance from its powerful sentence of spiritual death – a ‘sluggard’ of spiritual inactivity, a ‘sluggard’ of perpetual spiritual sleep, a ‘sluggard’ of slothfulness and indifference to the “Holy Truths” of God, and, yes, even indifferent to His amazing love and grace and mercy, just satisfied to live in “the darkness of a deep spiritual sleep,” unconcerned about his void of spiritual life and faith and purpose, or its penalty!

So, Proverbs 6:6-15, declares so wisely, so convicted, “Wake up, go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, ( no Savior, no Redeemer, no Lord, no loving spiritual caretaker), overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? WHEN WILL YOU ARISE FROM YOUR SLEEP? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep – SO SHALL POVERTY (that’s spiritual poverty and spiritual bankruptcy!) COME ON YOU LIKE A PROWLER (one who comes to steal, like the devil!), AND ON YOUR NEED LIKE AN ARMED MAN (or robber or thief, yes, “the powers of darkness”!).”

Verses 12-15 then solemnly, seriously, and in convicting fashion, describes the end of a sleeping, spiritually negligent, self-serving individual, who resists his need of “spiritual awakening”: “A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth (“that Bible may be what YOUR God says, but I don’t care!”); He winks with his eyes, he shuffles his feet, he points his fingers; Perversity is in his heart, he devises evil continually (that’s ANYTHING THAT LEAVES GOD OUT OF ONE’S ‘MIXED-BAG-OF-LIFE CHOICES’!), he sows discord, (Opposition to eternal Truths). THEREFORE his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.”

Oh, but there is “hope that is eternal”! There can be, must be, if you let Him, an “awakening” from spiritual sleep and slumber, spiritual death, spiritual hopelessness, to the reality of the true, merciful, spiritual awakening in and through “Christ Jesus” alone!

In Joel 1:5 the word of the Lord had come to Joel: “Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.” Is this ‘literal’ speech or ‘metaphorical’? The ‘drunkards’ are ‘sinners separated from Holy God ‘intoxicated’ in unholy, unbiblical, un-redeeming truths! The ‘drunkards’ are ‘willful sinners’ intoxicated with the ‘devil’s brew’ of unbelief, rebellion, disobedience, self-centeredness, and purposely, willfully, so intoxicated with self, one has ‘no sense’ or ‘will’ or ‘desire’ to live for God! “IS IT EVIDENT IN SOME ‘MODERN-CHURCHES’? WITHOUT ANY DOUBT! But loving, merciful, caring, compassionate God takes on the mission to awake those who sleep, resurrect those who are spiritually dead, and by repentance toward Him and faith in Christ Jesus’ “finished work” at the Cross, the ‘dead’ can be, will be, have been “raised from spiritual death’ from the ‘slumber of the devil’ INTO THE REALITY OF THE SAVIOR’S MERCY,LOVE,&GRACE!!

Get ready! It’s going to be an interesting, awe-inspiring ‘journey’ from spiritual sleep to “awakened by the love, mercy, and grace of GoD”!! FIRST! LET’S LOOK AT THE REALITY OF GODLESS MEN/WOMEN,TEENS/CHILDREN, WHO “ARE” CAPTURED IN BIRTH BY THE REALITY OF A COVETED SIN-NATURE, ‘STRIVING’ TO “LIVE”, BUT WITHOUT HOLY GOD! GOD HAD NO DESIRE IN BIRTHING MEN WITH NO “FREE WILL” because He knew it’s consequences, “BUT THE ‘FREE WILL” OF ‘FLESH’ had to be because Holy God was not interested in seeing men & women as automatic robots”, and certainly, natural birth WAS & IS NOT “LIFE IN THE SPIRIT OF HOLY GOD”! THIS IS WHY JESUS CONFRONTED ‘REALITY’ OF THOSE SEPARATED FROM GOD WHEN HE ‘MENTIONED’ IN JOHN 1:13 ABOUT THOSE ‘BORN NOT OF SPIRITUAL BLOOD BUT OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH’, THE WILL OF FALLEN MANKIND!

IN ACTS 7:51 STEPHEN HAD BEEN CALLED BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN TO ANSWER QUESTIONS THEY HAD ABOUT HIS “OPEN CHRISTIAN WITNESS” – THEY WERE READY TO KILL HIM! HAVING BEEN THREATENED, HE SAID TO THE PUBLIC OFFICIALS & ISRAELI LEADERS, “YOU STIFFNECKED & UNCIRCUMCISED IN HEART & EARS, YOU DO ALWAYS RESIST THE HOLY SPIRIT: AS YOUR FATHERS DID, SO DO YOU.”+ (DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT “RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS” WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE SAVIOR AS LORD, BIRTHS A GREATER ‘BONDAGE’, A STRONGER ‘RELIGIOUS PRIDE’ THAT CRUCIFIED KING JESUS, & MULTIPLIES DEEPER DECEPTION & RESENTMENT OF TRUTH ABOUT “TRUSTING” WHEN THEY’RE SO DEVOTED TO THEIR ‘RELIGIOUS TRYING’, TO THE POINT THAT WHEN KING JESUS SAID, “FORSAKE ALL & FOLLOW ME”, THE UNBELIEVERS & RELIGIOUS PRETENDERS UNITED TO SEE THAT HE, JESUS, WAS CRUCIFIED ON THE CROSS, FAILING TO UNDERSTAND ‘THE CROSS’ WAS GOD’S PLAN, BUT THEIR EMBITTERED ‘RELIGIOUS HEARTS’ & SPIRITUALLY ‘BRAIN-DEAD MINDS’ ACTUALLY WAS “USED” BY HOLY GOD TO CARRY OUT HIS ETERNAL PLAN OF “BLOOD REDEMPTION” THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF HIS OWN SON ON CALVARY’S CROSS!

THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH ! THE NATURAL MAN, UNREDEEMED CAN SIN, UNAWARE IT EXPOSES THEIR ‘SPIRITUAL DEATH’! SIN-NATURES “DO NOT NATURALLY BIRTH ‘SAINTS’, BUT BIRTHS SINNERS UNDER SATAN’S MANAGEMENT CONTROL, A LOST WORLD’S DEFENCELESS DECEIT, &, YES, THE SINNER’S ‘OPINION’ THAT ‘SIN DOESN’T PRODUCE DEATH –IT’S FUN’, BUT HOLY GOD OVERSEES & SETTLES THE ETERNAL DESTINY OF THE UNRESPONSE TO HIS LOVE & GRACE AS BEFORE HIS JUDGMENT SEAT THEY DID, DO, & WILL STAND BEFORE HIM AS HOLY GOD ISSUES FOR ALL, SINFUL OR SINLESS, WORLDLY OR HEAVENLY, PERSONAL PERSUASION OR PRINCE OF PEACE’S PRESENCE IN THE REPENTANT, REDEEMED, RECONCILED, REWARDED, & RELEASED “TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD” WHO “GO OUT TO SHARE HIS GOOD NEWS OF ETERNAL SALVATION IN & THROUGH CHRIST’S BLOOD SACRIFICE & THE FREE GIFT OF RECONCILIATION IS GRANTED”!

SECOND, LET’S EXAMINE THAT “FREE GIFT” & HOW “HE” SHOULD INSPIRE OUR DAILY WALK OF “CHRIST IN US OUR HOPE OF GLORY”! IN THE “ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS” (P183) IS A QUOTE BY ST. PATRICK (SIGERSON,tr.), THAT SAYS: “GOD’S MIGHT TO DIRECT ME, GOD’S POWER TO PROTECT ME, GOD’S WISDOM FOR LEARNING, GOD’S EYE FOR DISCERNING, GOD’S EAR FOR HEARING, GOD’S WORD FOR MY CLEARING.”

IN MICAH 7:1-7,&18-19! THE PROPHET SAID: “WOE IS ME! FOR I AM AS WHEN THEY HAVE GATHERED THE SUMMER FRUITS,AS THE GRAPE-GLEANINGS OF THE VINTAGE:THERE IS NO CLUSTER TO EAT:MY SOUL DESIRED THE FIRSTRIPE FRUIT. THE GOOD MAN IS PERISHED OUT OF THE EARTH (“THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH”!); & THERE IS NONE UPRIGHT AMONG MEN:THEY ALL LIE IN WAIT FOR BLOOD;THEY HUNT EVERY MAN HIS BROTHER WITH A NET.

THAT THEY MAY DO EVIL WITH BOTH HANDS EARNESTLY, THE PRINCE ASKS, & THE JUDGE ASKS FOR A REWARD; & THE GREAT MAN, HE UTTERS HIS MISCHIEVOUS DESIRE:SO THEY WRAP IT UP. THE BEST OF THEM IS AS A BRIER:THE MOST UPRIGHT IS SHARPER THAN A THORN HEDGE: THE DAY OF THEIR WATCHMEN & THEIR VISITATION COMES;NOW SHALL BE THEIR PERPLEXITY. TRUST YOU NOT IN A FRIEND,PUT YOU NOT CONFIDENCE IN A GUIDE:KEEP THE DOORS OF YOUR MOUTH FROM HER THAT LIES IN YOUR BOSOM.

FOR THE SON DISHONORS THE FATHER, THE DAUGHTER RISES UP AGAINST HER MOTHER, THE DAUGHTER IN LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER IN LAW; A MAN’S ENEMIES ARE THE MEN OF HIS OWN HOUSE. THEREFORE I WILL LOOK UNTO THE LORD; I WILL WAIT FOR THE GOD OF MY SALVATION:MY GOD WILL HEAR ME.”

THEN IN VERSES 18-19 THE PROPHET EXPLAINS! “WHO IS A GOD LIKE UNTO ‘YOU’, “HE” PARDONS INIQUITY, & PASSES BY THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE REMNANT OF “HIS” HERITAGE? HE RETAINS NOT HIS ANGER FOREVER, BECAUSE “HE” DELIGHTS IN MERCY. HE WILL TURN AGAIN, HE WILL HAVE COMPASSION UPON US;HE WILL SUBDUE OUR INIQUITIES; & HE WILL CAST ALL THEIR SINS INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA.” THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA? THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA OF GOD’S FORGETFULNESS? THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS REALITY FOR SINNERS WHO REPENT & “TURN”, FULLY SURRENDERING TO CHRIST’S BLOOD ATONEMENT, HIS FORGIVENESS, & BECAUSE YOU TRULY REPENTED, HE MAKES YOUR BODY ,HEART, & SPIRIT, INTO A “NEW HABITATION” THAT BECOMES HIS TEMPLE OF EARTHLY RESIDENCE, NEVER TO LEAVE US OR FORSAKE US! GLORY!

“AWAKE YOU WHO SLEEP! ARISE FROM THE DEAD,& CHRIST JESUS WILL GIVE YOU LIGHT!” THERE MUST BE IN THE 21^ST CENTURY ANOTHER GREAT “SPIRITUAL AWAKENING” WHERE THE “LIGHT OF CHRIST JESUS IN REPENTANT, BORN-AGAIN HEARTS & MINDS” REVEALS HIS MISSION THROUGH THEM AS “WITNESSES FAITHFULLY TO NEEDY, UNSAVED, SEPARATED-FROM-GOD PEOPLE, UNREDEEMED, WHO MUST BE RECONCILED TO HIM FOR HEAVENLY GLORY TO “REST” IN THEM & THROUGH THEM, BEING HIS “HOLY TEMPLES” OF ETERNALLY ABIDING PRESENCE”!

THIRD, KNOWING CHRIST JESUS GIVES ‘LIGHT’, DOES THAT INCLUDE THE NECESSITY OF GRASPING THE UNDERSTANDING OF TRUE SPIRITUAL GROWTH & MATURITY IN HONORING CHRIST, OBEYING CHRIST, & YES SHARING CHRIST BEYOND THE FOUR WALLS OF ONE’S CHURCH? JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 4:4 THAT, “IT IS WRITTEN, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY (PHYSICAL) BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.” SO “EATING BREAD ALONE, FOR MY ENJOYMENT & SATISFACTION”, BUT IGNORING THE STARVING, EMPTY HEARTS & MINDS OF THE “LOST”, ALIENATED FROM GOD, IN NEED OF CHRIST’S “BLOOD REDEMPTION”, BUT YOU LOCK IT & THE NEEDY IN THE SEA OF FORGETFULNESS & “LET THE WORLD AROUND YOU “GO TO HELL”?

FOURTH, AS A “FOLLOWER OF CHRIST”, ARE YOU COMMITTED, NOT ONLY TO “FAITH”, BUT ALSO “OBEDIENCE”? IF YOU’RE A “TRUE FOLLOWER” OF CHRIST, IF HE SAID & SAYS, MATTHEW 4:19, “FOLLOW ME & I WILL MAKE YOU ‘FISHERS OF MEN.’ IN PROVERBS 11:30 WE READ, “THE FRUIT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS A TREE OF LIFE; & HE THAT WINS SOULS IS WISE.” EVEN THE PROPHET DANIEL HAD A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MINISTRY OF MEN & WOMEN ‘RECONCILED TO GOD’! HE SAID, IN DANIEL 12:3, “AND THEY THAT BE WISE SHALL SHINE AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT; & THEY THAT TURN MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, AS THE STARS FOR EVER & EVER!” TELL ME! “HOW’S YOUR TESTIMONY TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU WHO LIVE APART FROM RECONCILED TO GOD, RE-BORN, & ‘SHINING’ ON OTHERS THE PATH OF “BLOOD REDEMPTION”?

I CLOSE THIS PARTICULAR TEACHING WITH THE WORDS OF AN OLD HYMN ENTITLED “RISE UP,O MEN OF GOD”, (FOUND IN THE 1940 PUBLICATION OF “THE BROADMAN HYMNAL,” BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.). IT SAYS: “RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD! HAVE DONE WITH LESSER THINGS; GIVE HEART & MIND & SOUL & STRENGTH TO SERVE THE KING OF KINGS.

RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD! HIS KINGDOM TARRIES LONG; BRING IN THE DAY OF BROTHERHOOD AND END THE NIGHT OF WRONG.

RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD! THE CHURCH FOR YOU DOTH WAIT, HER STRENGTH UNEQUAL TO HER TASK; RISE UP, & MAKE HER GREAT!

LIFT HIGH THE CROSS OF CHRIST! TREAD WHERE HIS FEET HAVE TROD; AS BROTHERS OF “THE SON OF MAN”, RISE UP, O MEN OF GOD!”

“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY”? IS IT ‘REAL’ FOR “YOU”? IF ‘YOU’ ARE YIELDED TO THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS, ARE “YOU” OBEDIENT OR COMPLACENT? COMPLACENT? “SATISFIED IN ONE’S SELF, UNCONCERNED ABOUT WHAT HOLY GOD HAS TO SAY,INDIFFERENT, & EVEN UNCONCERNED ABOUT GOD’S MISSION THROUGH YOU AS A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST IN BEING “HIS WITNESSES” TO UNREDEEMED, INDIFFERENT, UNCONCERNED ‘FOLKS’ ABOUT THEM BEING RECONCILED TO GOD? ARE “YOU” OBEDIENT TO THE “CALL”, “GO & SHARE THE GOSPEL!”

ONE MORE HYMN OF “CHALLENGE” FROM THE SAME OLD HYMNAL,P.187! IT’S ENTITLED, “O JESUS, I HAVE PROMISED”! IT SAYS: “O JESUS, I HAVE PROMISED TO SERVE YOU TO THE END; BE THOU FOREVER NEAR ME, MY MASTER & MY FRIEND; I SHALL NOT FEAR THE BATTLE IF YOU ARE BY MY SIDE, NOR WANDER FROM THE PATHWAY IF YOU WILL BE MY GUIDE.

O LET ME FEEL YOU NEAR ME, THE WORLD IS EVER NEAR; I SEE THE SIGHTS THAT DAZZLE, THE TEMPTING SOUNDS I HEAR:MY FOES ARE EVER NEAR ME, AROUND ME & WITHIN; BUT, JESUS, DRAW YOU NEARER, & SHIELD MY SOUL FROM SIN.

O JESUS, YOU HAVE PROMISED TO ALL WHO FOLLOW THEE THAT WHERE YOU ARE IN GLORY THERE SHALL YOUR SERVANT BE; AND, JESUS, I HAVE PROMISED TO SERVE YOU TO THE END; O GIVE ME GRACE TO FOLLOW MY MASTER & MY FRIEND.” ARE YOU A TRUE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST, AVAILABLE TO SHARE HIS LIFE, EXTEND HIS LIFE, & EXPRESS HIS LOVE TO OTHERS?

CHAPTER THIRTY

“ADAPTABLE CHURCHES OR

APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES?”

In Exodus 19:5-6 we find an illuminating statement from God about His “chosen people.” And you have to ask, “Did the people God intended His word for become the “special treasure to Him above all people”? Sadly, some didn’t, but with thankful hearts some did! What did Holy God say?

“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

What an awesome calling yet easily ‘adaptable’ by many churches today! Today it’s ‘one priest’ without the equipping of all saints to touch the darkened world with the True Light, the Lord Jesus Christ, with many, many churches maintaining their survivability without directions, examples, or equipping of the church’s calling to be “witnesses” to the needy world – evangelism is a lost ministry in many churches, even discipleship training is absent in many churches, and to think that a pastor has the role of equipping saints to “do” the work of the ministry is an ‘archaic, religious tradition’ – not the ‘way of a super-saint’ calling!

In fact, if one truly devoted himself/herself to the inspired words of Simon Peter, one might come to a different conclusion and a more sound foundation to ‘church building’! In 1 Peter 2:7-9 Peter wrote: “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed. BUT YOU (in Christ) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”

How much preparation is given in far too many churches nation-wide to being “witnesses”, equipping ‘saints’ to touch their needy world with Redemptive Truth? Sadly, it’s near or about ‘zero’!

Come to Acts 13:1-5a where we find an obedient witness to the Promise of the Holy Spirit to every disciple to fulfill our calling as a follower of Christ! It says: Now to the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manean who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. SO, being sent out by the Holy Spirit…” How awesome do you find that commissioning upon every disciple of Christ!?

You can be assured that I for one do not distinguish between ‘leadership’ responsibility and the role and ministry of every true born-again believer. Are there different callings and ministries under the same tent of faith? Of course, but not in excluding or excusing some from being “witnesses”!

I pray you’ll follow with me through John 17 as I look at the prayer of Jesus to His Father in heaven. Don’t miss this! John 17:1-3, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent…”

John 17:6 says, Jesus speaking, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given me out of the world.” Oh, and then look at what the Lord Jesus said in John 17:17-18! “Sanctify (or “set apart”) them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You (God the Father!) sent me INTO THE WORLD, I ALSO HAVE SENT THEM INTO THE WORLD.”

And then in John 17:25-26 Jesus thanks the Father and reflects upon His eternal ministry and ours! “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

And are you familiar with the rest of John’s gospel? Jesus’ betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane, even disciples’ denial, the choosing of Barabbas’ freedom over Christ’s, the soldiers scourging of the Lord Jesus, Pilate’s deliverance of Christ to be crucified, His piercing, His burial, and then, praise God, “the empty tomb”! Oh, and then, before His ascension, He said to His disciples, “Follow Me!” And that following is a willful surrender of self-will to the divine will of Father-God! Oh, and then Acts 1 unfolds the eternal purpose, the sovereign grace, and the all sufficient supply to fulfill divine intent through our re-born lives!

In Acts 1:7-8 Jesus spoke to the “gathered assembly of true believers”, saying: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And, praise God, Acts 2:32 declares, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all WITNESSES!”

You are aware that there is a worldwide battle for the souls of men by the world, the flesh, and the devil himself with his demonic forces opposed to anyone or anything that relates to the “blood redemption” of our world – why? Because “God so loved the world” that He desired to rescue as many as received His message and the Master of true life, the Lord Jesus Christ – salvation of the “lost” and alienated from God reduces his kingdom numbers who’ve been the devil’s enslaved!

Notice Paul’s emphasis in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5! “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” [Hear me! I know that much of what we just read relates to the warfare between the old man and the new man, between flesh and spirit – but, at the same time I see our weapons in Him fighting against those spirits that have men and women, boys and girls, enslaved in the demonic kingdom of alienation from Holy God and the Eternal Word!

Apart from Christ fallen mankind ‘drinks’ of worldly streams, devilish rivers, and lakes of unredeemed curses and ‘snake-like’ strangle-holds with its released poisons of godlessness! When Jesus said you’ll know people by their ‘fruits’, it’s either the “Fruit of the Spirit” or the “Foul Fruit of Satanic indifference” to the things of Holy God and His Kingdom rule and reign. I believe the Lord Jesus “celebrates” the child-like obedience of children of the faith to allow their bodies to be the kingdom of His holy presence and through which He bears witness Himself!

It’s really, really interesting that in Revelation 1:5-6 the Holy Spirit unveils the beauty and blessing “from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,” but continuing, “the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, AND HAS MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” That’s ‘kings’ and ‘priests’ in His heavenly kingdom, sovereignly appointed to be the vessel to a world of self-rule, self-worship, and self-gratification, and the change comes in that world when disciples of Christ allow Him to be Himself through them!

No wonder Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

But my concern in this modern day is that, sadly, “Apostolic Assemblies” are set aside for “Adaptable Churches” that want to be so accepted by the world that they tone down biblical truth to make it acceptable, ignore specifically “Preach the Word”, fearing to say what God has said would limit their attendance, and, certainly feel justified to do their best at Bible teaching without encouraging pure devotion to His commissioning to be His witnesses in our lost, needy, alienated from God world!

According to Paul in Ephesians, 3:10-12, there is a divine design by God in maturing the ‘saints’ one has and the mobilizing of the body of Christ in reaching out to a needy world even if it costs us our lives! Paul said, “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” That’s confidence in boldly approaching the very throne of Holy God AND boldness in touching our needy world; and that has, can even today, cost you your physical existence!

I’m convinced that much of the problem of churches that do not have mission support worldwide, evangelism outreach locally, or even discipleship training and equipping of the saints to do evangelism ministry, is that “heavenly joy” in Jesus has been ignored, denied, or never understood. In John 15:11-17 Jesus said:

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends IF you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” Yes, rather than an “Adaptable Church,” what about making sure your fellowship of believers is an “Apostolic Assembly”!!

I guess one of the huge questions one must deal with initially is: Do I have a teachable spirit anxious to know what Christ Jesus has to say to me? It was David’s heart when he said in Psalm 27:11, “Teach me Your way, O Lord..” Is that the attitude of YOUR heart?

FIRST, PLEASE NOTE THAT GOD PERSONALLY LOVED YOU ENOUGH THAT EVEN IF YOU WERE THE ONLY HUMAN BEING TO EVER LIVE, BECAUSE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU CHRIST WOULD HAVE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU ALONE, BUT HE DIED TO SAVE ALL MEN, BUT SOME DO NOT BELIEVE IN, RELY UPON, TRUST IN, OR ADHERE TO HIM!

In Romans 8:35-39 Paul gives us a powerful word of hope that should strengthen your ‘faith journey’! He said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor death, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And our Savior, the Lord Jesus, said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Rev. J.M. Driver wrote an old hymn entitled “Wonderful Story of Love. [Broadman Hymnal, Broadman Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1940]. The first verse says:

“Wonderful story of love; Tell it to me again; Wonderful story of love; Wake the immortal strain! Angels with rapture announce it, Shepherds with wonder receive it; Sinner, O won’t you believe it? Wonderful story of love.”

SECOND, AWARE OF HIS GREAT LOVE, THE SINNER WHO IS DESIROUS OF FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION, IS LED TO THE ALTAR OF REPENTANCE. In Romans 2:4 wise Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance?”

When you look upon an ungodly world, one is saddened that a man in his sin and sin nature is not aware of his separation from God and from Holy God’s divine design for his life, so “messengers” are sent praying initially for the truth of the burden of sin and death, then the crucifixion of Christ in his stead! This is why in 2 Corinthians 7:10 the Holy Word instructs us, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

I so admire Oswald Chambers and his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.254). In it Chambers wrote: “The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God’s grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I HAVE SINNED. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says it and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself.”

Examine John 16:5-11 Jesus explains: “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” And apart from repentance, there is no reconciliation with Holy God!

THIRD, HAVING BEEN CONVERTED THROUGH FAITH AND REPENTANCE, THE WORD TELLS US THAT THE “APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES” LIVE VICTORIOUS, OVERCOMING LIVES BY HOLY SPIRIT GUIDANCE INTO BIBLE TRUTH! In John 16:12-15 Christ Jesus’ holy instruction for new disciples says: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. HE will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Christ Jesus emphasized the ministry role of Spirit-assistance, the ministry as faithful guide, the “Joy-Giver” of the full unveiling of Christ in you, and grants each disciple a forceful empowerment!

In Romans 8:26-27 Paul unveils this ‘representative ministry’ of the Holy Spirit before the Throne of God in our behalf. Receive the Word with joy and gladness! “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

And there is no Spirit-anointed victories in “Apostolic Assembles” or ‘professing lives of allegiance to Christ’ if there is no allegiance to, awareness of, and willfully “yielding” daily to the Holy Spirit’s ministry! Paul asked a penetrating, challenging word in Romans 6:16: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Are YOU yielded to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, whose God-inspired role is to glorify Christ through your daily walk?

As Jesus was profoundly concerned about “false prophets” early in His ministry, he warned in Matthew 7:15-16a, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit.”

I want to close out this teaching with the solid scriptural challenge of Galatians 5:16-25! It says: Paul speaking, I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

BUT the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Has that changed somewhere along the line or path of discipleship? Is it that some in the 21^st Century feel we’re so intellectually superior that “Christians” shouldn’t be concerned whether they need to walk in the Spirit or Not? The “Abnormal Christian Life” is avoidance of Spirit-ministry in an available vessel! The challenge to be filled with all the fullness of God does not become a reality apart from the Spirit’s abiding and anointing! The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in us and through us, and only as we willfully yield to the Spirit’s control is Christ’s presence in us fully revealed! Walking in the Spirit is not an option believers hold but an eternal necessity!

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

AUTHENTIC, SPIRITUALLEADERSHIP

In I Timothy 3:1, Paul said to Timothy, “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of bishop, he desires a good work.” The New English Bible interprets this verse, “To aspire to leadership is an honorable ambition.”

One translation says “desires” and the other says “aspires.” And I am convinced God’s Word is ever true, and desiring and aspiring is not evil.

At the same time, not many of our biblical heroes desired or aspired to leadership – they were drafted by God into service. That’s true of Abraham, Moses, reluctant prophets, and questioning young disciples: “Are You sure, Lord?”

But James and John were bold. In Mark 10:37, they said to Jesus, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”

Then Jesus responded, “But are you able to drink the cup I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

J. Oswald Sanders, in his book, “Spiritual Leadership,” (p10), talked about “mere place seekers and charlatans.” Then he added, (p12), “They coveted a crown of glory but were not ready for a crown of thorns. Coronation interested them, but not crucifixion.”

Following Christ Jesus in leadership is not a call to supremacy but servanthood; it was not a call to ascendancy but humility; it was not a call to personal ruling but a pouring out of life as a drink offering!

But Nehemiah was confronted with serious problems in his day just as we confront serious problems today concerning leadership. In Psalm 48:2 God describes “the holy city of Jerusalem” as “Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King.”

And what did Nehemiah find? Nehemiah 2:17 says, “You see the distress we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”

Are you familiar with Raphael who was commissioned to paint the frescoes of the Vatican walls in Rome?

When several cardinals walked by one day they had to come against Raphael. One cardinal said, “The face of the apostle Paul is too red,” to which Raphael responded: “He blushes to see into whose hands the church has fallen!”

It was Warren Weirsbe, in his book, “The Integrity Crisis,” who wrote (p56), “In recent years, the church has had too many celebrities and not enough servants, too many people with plenty of medals and no scars.”

If Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King, and, “As He is so are we in this world,” (I John 4:17), do ministers today minister in the prophetic role calling men to account, the priestly role of intercession, and the kingly role of true biblical authority and anointing?

We’re not to be as Ron DeArmand said, “High Gloss – Cheap Merchandise,” but a reflector of, an imitation of, an interpretation of Jesus Himself!

Yet, often, leaders today stand behind the sacred desk, and minister, as someone has said, “imperiled by familiarity and [lost] our sense of awe and reverence.”

The Book of Joshua is the text for this teaching, but I want Psalm 78:70–72 to capture your heart first! Listen:

“He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”

And you want to cry out, “God, do it again and again, over and over; give us leaders with the integrity of a holy heart, and skills engrafted by Your Own Holy Hands!”

Come to Joshua 1. Notice, First:

LEADERSHIP IS BECAUSE OF THE ETERNAL DETERMINATION OF GOD TO USE MEN AS AN EXTENSION AND EXPRESSION OF HIS OWN SOVEREIGN LEADERSHIP.

Joshua 1:1–2 says, “After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them – the children of Israel.”

Do you remember Exodus 3:10? “Come now, therefore, [Moses], and I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Moses was divinely chosen of God. Abraham was sovereignly chosen by God.

David was supernaturally chosen by God. Prophets were appointed and anointed by God. Joshua, an assistant, is chosen by God to replace Moses as the leader of Israel.

Jesus chose twelve disciples. The apostle Paul was chosen by Jesus being confronted on the Damascus Road.

What did Jesus tell those early disciples in John 15:16? “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…”

And here is the amazing, heart–shaking truth: Ephesians 1:4, “just as He [God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Do you remember the 180,000 warriors, men chosen by God?

How humbling is I Corinthians 1:26–29? “For consider your calling, brothers, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the FOOLISH things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the WEAK things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the BASE [insignificant, lowly] things of the world and the things which are DESPISED God has chosen, and the things WHICH ARE NOT [nothings, zeroes], to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

A true leader is a man touched by the scepter of God’s grace. A true leader is a man who knows he’s a nothing, but by God’s mercy is enabled to see God’s hand on his life, validating he’s “the chosen of God.” A true leader is not of “elite” status but of the ELECTED, and empowered by God’s presence and His holy purpose, can literally shake continents! A true leader is always and forever confounded by God’s choice of him as a chosen leader for such a time as this! Second,

GOD’S AUTHENTIC LEADERS ARE THOSE BLESSED BY GOD WITH THE PROMISE TO BE WITH US. Look at Joshua 1:5! “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so will I be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.”

In Joshua 6:27 the Word says, “So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.”

And your “fame” in pastoral ministry is not because of any educational degrees you’ve earned – but because GOD IS WITH YOU.

Your “fame” is not because of your best efforts – but because of Holy Presence. Your “fame” is not because you’re blessed with keen insights and wise words – but because you’re a habitation of God in the Spirit!

It’s why David sang in Psalm 40:10, “I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart.” What is your hope of glory, pastors? What are the riches of glory you are a part of? Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory!”

You may find yourself on the backside of a desert pouting about your pastoral problems – then all of a sudden there’s a “burning bush.”

You may find yourself with your head on a stone as your pillow, the darkest night of your ministry because of an offended brother – and you find out your darkest night is the very house of God.

You may run like a David from one of your spiritual sons and hide in a cave – and God shows up with 400 brothers to stand, walk, and fight with you.

You may deny your calling and you sulk by the seashore – then the Savior appears.

In 2 Timothy 4:16–18, Paul says: “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be fully preached through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth…AND THE LORD WILL DELIVER ME FROM EVERY EVIL WORK, and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you!”

AUTHENTIC, SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IS VICTORIOUS OUT OF DIVINE STRENGTH AND HOLY COURAGE. Four times in Joshua 1 God said to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage.”

Come to Joshua 14:6–11! This passage relates to Caleb getting his promised mountain after 45 years of

“Standing On The Promises!”

Verse 6, Caleb had a word from God. Verse 7, it was in his heart. Verse 8, he wholly followed the Lord his God. Verse 9, he knew his inheritance and that of his children which was a forever promise. Verse 10, 45 years later he still stands on the promise. Verse 11, “As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.”

In 2 Corinthians 2:1,4, Paul wrote: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. Verse 4, My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

Are you getting the picture? What does 2 Chronicles 16:9 tell us? “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

The great South African preacher and author, A.W. Tozer, wrote: “Before we follow any man we should look for the oil on his forehead. We are under no spiritual obligation to aid any man in any activity that has not upon it the marks of the cross.”

Don’t ever forget Paul’s testimony to the Corinthians! 2 Corinthians 3:5–6, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also MADE US SUFFICIENT as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but OF THE SPIRIT; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Do you understand divine ministry of holy strength and a holy courage? Where does it come from? In 2 Corinthians 3:10–11, Paul said he carried in his body “the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his body.” And the result? “the resurrection life of Jesus manifested in our body.” That’s power; that’s courage; that’s the divine strength of the indwelling Christ! Not of you, but of Christ Jesus Himself!

In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul said, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Did you hear it with your heart? “that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

John Piper wrote the book, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals.” In chapter one he wrote, “We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake.”

Then Piper quoted E.M. Bounds: “The preacher…is not a professional man; his ministry is not a profession; it is a divine institution, a divine devotion.” And let me add, it is the overflow of the indwelling of the power of our Lord and Savior – and He gives us courage!

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP PROSPERS OUT OF REMEMBRANCE. In Joshua 4:3, the Lord spoke to Joshua about taking twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan River, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm.

And then he told Joshua that the children would be asking what the stones are all about, “What do these stones mean?”; then the children would learn anew, the parents and leaders would remember, from where they came, what they’re about, to whom they belong, and where they’re going!

Again, it was Tozer who wrote: “The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.”

And the first step down for a leader is when he not only surrenders his high opinion of God, but fails to remember from where he came, what he’s to be about, who he represents, and where he’s going!

The people under Ezra’s leadership had failed to “remember,” and in Ezra 9:6, Ezra cries out: “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.”

Here’s how John Piper challenges us about “remembrance,” (“Brothers, We Are Not Professionals,” p113), “The keener the memory of our awful rescue, the more naturally we pity those in a similar plight. The more deeply we feel how undeserved and free was the grace that plucked us from the flames, the freer will be our benevolence to sinners.”

But the question is, “Have you forgotten or do you remember?” When it comes to an authentic, spiritual ministry, if remembrance is set aside it breeds forgetfulness, it lights a destructive fire of indifference evidenced by what one calls “lazy bones and limp minds,” with the end result of divided hearts and misplaced allegiance!

AUTHENTIC, SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IS EVIDENCED BY THE CONTINUAL PREPARATION FOR BATTLE AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE. In Joshua 4:13–14, God’s Word says, “About 40,000 prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel…”

Do you remember God’s Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11? Let me amplify verses 33–34! “who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle [or war], turned to flight the armies of aliens…”

There is a War against the Lamb of God and His followers. There is a fight concerning the Faith. There are battles to crush you, disillusion you, destroy you.

There are wars within ourselves concerning flesh or Spirit. There are wars in the streets over Truth and The Lie. There are wars about the Bible, God’s Word, inerrant, infallible – that Word which is Living, Powerful, and Sharper than any two–edged sword!

There is a war against Satan and his demon powers of Hell, the foul spirits, the unclean spirits of an unholy army. And we must be those who “Fight the good fight of Faith.”

It was Amy Carmichael, from England, who went to India in her early twenties (1890’s) after “bombing out” in Japan. She devoted almost 60 years of her life to the dusty trails and needy people of southern India.

I’ve visited her Donavour Fellowship several times. She wrote:

“Have you no scars? No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand? I hear you sung as mighty in the land, I hear them hail you the bright ascendant star: Have you no scar?

Have you no wound? Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent, Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent by ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned: Have you no wound?

No wound? no scar? Yes, as the Master shall the servant be. And pierced are the feet that follow Me; But yours are whole. Can he have followed far who has no wound? No scar?”

I so love what J.Oswald Sanders wrote in his book, “Spiritual Leadership,” (p108), “The loneliest preacher today is the man who has been entrusted with a prophetic message that is ahead of his times, a message that cuts across the prevailing temper of the age.”

In 2 Timothy 2:3–4, Paul challenges his spiritual son, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”

Pastor, were you enlisted as a “please all” kind of pastor, or a soldier of truth that may cost you friends or even your life?

AUTHENTIC, SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IS A LEADER WHO PROSPERS BECAUSE HE GETS A PROMISE AND STANDS ON IT. We saw this earlier in Joshua 14 when Caleb got a promise and waited 45 years for its fulfillment. In Joshua 14:6–7, Caleb speaks, “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was 40 years old when Moses sent me.”

Caleb says in verse 9 that he was given a promise about an inheritance. In verse 10, he’s now 45 years older, and he says in verse 12, “give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke.”

Caleb stood on a promise of God for 45 years and was blessed. An authenticated, true, spiritual leader is a man who thrives on the promises of God, even if the fulfillment comes 45 years later!

S.D. Gordon put it like this: “Let it once be fixed that a man’s ambition is to fit into God’s plan for him, and he has a North Star ever in sight to guide him steadily over any sea, however shoreless it seems.”

That North Star of an authentic, spiritual leader is the reality of God’s faithful promises! That leader knows, “All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are “Yes” and “Amen” to the glory of God!

AUTHENTIC, SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IS WITNESSED AS PRECIOUS BECAUSE THAT PECULIAR LEADER HAS A HEART FOR A LEGACY OF MINISTRY TO THE GLORY OF GOD.

Joshua 24:15 says, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

It was Andrew Murray of South Africa who wrote many years ago, “God has no more precious gift to a church or an age than a man who lives as the embodiment of [God’s] will, and inspires those around him with the faith of what grace can do.”

Is that in your heart as a pastor? Is your heart an “embodiment of God’s will?” And do you keep your heart with all diligence because you know the heart reveals your true motive of ministry?

In John 17:6, Jesus speaks, “I have manifested [revealed, unveiled] Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”

AUTHENTIC, SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IS NOT ONLY THAT WHICH IS “CAUGHT” BUT ALSO TAUGHT. In 2 Timothy 2:2, (the Williams translation), Paul writes, “The things you learned from me before many witnesses, you must commit to trustworthy men who will be competent to teach others too.”

Caught and Taught are both foundational to a fulfilling, Christ–honoring ministry.

In Mark 10:42–44, “Jesus called the disciples to Himself and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.”

What an illuminating, exposing, revealing passage of authentic ministry!

In Galatians 6:17, Paul wrote: “From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”

Do you bear in your body and pastoral ministry the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is it earthly riches that define your ministry or the riches of grace?

Is it “jargon” you speak or preaching the talk of divine truth?

Is it “junk” you speak or the testimony of the treasures of God’s Word?

Is it “high gloss – cheap merchandise” or the spiritual tiaras of eternal truth and eternal values?

Praising Christ in ministry is prizing Christ in the practical ministry of Who He Is, What He Said, and How He Walked!

Let me close: Do you understand our Lord’s divine pathway to true happiness and blessing and an authentic, spiritual ministry?

Hebrews 11:26, “the reproach of Christ [is] greater wealth than [all] the treasures of Egypt.”

What is your testimony of ministry? Who gets the glory?

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“CAPTURING THE VISION”

Carl Henry wrote a book entitled “Twilight of a Great Civilization.” This theologian knew who the real heroes of a given age are – those who know divine visitation and have been captured by heavenly vision! Examine what he wrote: “The real heroes of our time are those who in a faithless age hold, live, and share their faith in God. Genuine revolutionary courage belongs to those who remain true even if atheistic rulers force them underground or punish citizens simply for being Christians…The true immortals will be those who seek to apply the principles of the Bible concretely to the complicated realities of modern life, who preserve a devout and virtuous family life, who are faithful to the abiding values of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

Modern life, both politically, socially, and spiritually is being pounded by waves of indifference, shoals of apathy spiritually, rocks of opposition to God and His Truth, even endless tidal waves of the visionless and a lack of virtuous, victorious living. We are a people being programmed for failure, governed for godlessness, educated for imbecility, and silenced to hear and trust God alone for ourselves.

Oswald Chambers, in his book “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.46), wrote: “It is easier to serve God without a vision, easier to work for God without a call, because then you are not bothered by what God requires; common sense is your guide, veneered over with Christian sentiment. You will be more prosperous and successful, more leisure-hearted, if you never realize the call of God. But if once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always come like a goad; you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense basis.”

No…it’s not a common-sense basis but the uncommon Spirit of visions and dreams. It’s not human compassion but divine appointment. It’s not fleshly reasoning but Faithful Revelation. Paul said in Galatians 1:15-16, “BUT WHEN IT PLEASED GOD…TO REVEAL HIS SON IN ME…” Dynamic, dynamite, distinctive service unto God is that which is unveiled by God! George McDonald wrote, “The one principle of hell is, ‘I am my own.’” Cal Thomas put it in a little different way when he commented in his book, “The Things That Matter Most” (Harper-Collins Publishers, 1994, New York, NY, p.145): “The fact is, burden-less lives create superficial people whose only interest is themselves.” And visionless lives also create sham people and preachers whose only concern is themselves, and they never listen to the God who gives visions and dreams!

The poet said it well when he wrote: “There is a secret in his breast that will never let him rest.” What I want to say is: There is a “Vision” in the true disciple’s heart that will never let him rest!

Jeremiah 29:11-14 is such a powerful, personal, and practical Word. Three truths are amplified there: 1) God’s thoughts and purposes toward us are good. 2) God has a living hope and an abiding future for us. 3) God hears our cries and is ever-present to lead us and enable us to His highest calling for our lives.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I think it is very important for you to consider what your vision is, what God has revealed to you about yourself and your future, about your family, about your nation and about your church. WE NEED VISION FROM GOD!!

In Acts 26:16-19, Paul is relating his testimony of his encounter with the Lord on the Damascus Road. Look at what the Lord said to him: “But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision…”

So, this encounter with the Lord, Paul calls it a “heavenly vision.” He met the Lord on the road to Damascus, God revealed to him that he was to be a minister and a witness to the things he’d already seen, and to the things in which the Lord would appear to him and reveal to him. And Paul states, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…”

Look at Revelation 1:1-2: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.” Now, look at verses 9-11: “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. “I WAS IN THE SPIRIT” on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches…” John was IN THE SPIRIT on the Lord’s day. I am firmly convinced that our yieldedness to the Holy Spirit is vitally imperative if we’re going to receive this vision from the Lord. I am fully convinced Saul of Tarsus was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or he would not have said, “Lord, what would You have me to do?” I think he came to the realization that His encounter with the Lord was through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. WE NEED TO BE YIELDED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I don’t believe there is any man or church that advances without a sense of need, awareness, conviction or direction; aware that God has something to say to each one of us; that He has a purpose and a plan for every one of our lives. The greatest need of our day is God’s vision!

George Moore is an English novelist. In one of his novels was an illustration of Irish peasants during a period of great depression. The government put them to work building roads. At first the peasants were joyous. They worked appreciatively; they were glad to have a job. Over a period of time, however, they learned the truth – they were building roads to nowhere! They were roads that went out to the wilderness area and just stopped there. As they became aware that they worked for no purpose, only to provide them employment and as an excuse to feed them, the laborers grew listless, stopped singing, and the work building roads came to a halt. Here is George Moore’s comment in this novel: “The roads to nowhere are difficult to make. For a man to work well and sing, there must be an end in view.” I’m convinced the “end in view” is VISION FROM GOD! “WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH!”

Beth Moore, from her book, “Things Pondered,” has written these words entitled “The Mountain”:

“I hear You call ‘Come meet with Me, See that which eyes are veiled to see And ears in vain will please to hear Except your heart should draw you here!…Abandon deeds down at My feet, No crowns as yet, no Judgment Seat, Surrender here all noble plans, Just lift to Me your empty hands…I’ll fill them with the richest fare And circumcise your heart to dare To reach beyond all earthliness For on this mount you’re Mine to bless…With gentle hands ‘til heart is stretched I’ll have MY Word upon it etched ‘Til only knees can catch the fall Of one who cries ‘You are my all!’”

What is this vision? We can say that it’s something seen, something that has been heard, something that has been revealed, maybe in a dream; it may be at the height of spiritual ecstasy under the anointing of the Spirit of God or it may be a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation, a will, a purpose, a plan to your life; but God comes and speaks to the hearts of men.

Rudyard Kipling has a poem called “The Explorer.” He wrote: “There’s no sense of going further, it’s the edge of cultivation, so they said and I believed it, broke my land, sowed my crop, built my barn, strung my fences in the little border station, tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop, ‘til a voice as bad as conscience rang interminable changes on one everlasting whisper day and night repeated, ‘Something hidden; go and find it; go and look beyond the ranges. Something lost behind the ranges, lost and waiting for you, go.”

There is the vision beyond the ranges of the common place to man. There is a vision behind the hills that are hidden away for the life of a man who will listen, for the life of a man who will look, for the life of a man who will stop and hesitate and wait upon God because God is no respecter of persons. What are visions and dreams all about?

FIRST, LET’S EXAMINE THE BLESSER OF VISIONS:

The Blesser of Visions is God Himself! Look again at Revelation 1:1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ WHICH GOD GAVE HIM TO SHOW TO HIS BOND-SERVANTS.” So God Himself gives to you His vision! Joel 2:26 says, “And you shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you…”God is the giver of a vision. God authors spiritual dreams. And we need to recognize that since God is no respecter of persons, God wants to give YOU a vision for your life.

This needs to be a matter of prayer, of laying hold of the horns of His altar and hold on!! “God, do You have something for me individually? God, are You speaking to my family, my church, our nation?” Unless we have that attitude prevailing in our hearts, we’re going to miss what God has to say to our lives. We ALL need to bow before the Blesser of Visions and say, “God, since You are no respecter of persons, what is Your vision for me, for my family, for my church, for my nation?” I believe the Word of God reveals our need of bowing before the Blesser of Visions and saying, “Lord, here we are; what do You want to say to us today?”

SECOND, LET’S EXAMINE THE BIRTH OF VISIONS!

• Here is an Abraham, who is given a vision that he is going to be the father of a great nation. So he leaves Ur of the Chaldeas, not knowing where he was going, but only that God had sent him and said to him, “You’re going to be a blessing to all the nations of the world.” [Didn’t Jesus say that Abraham rejoiced to see Jesus’ Day, and he was glad?]
• Here is a young Joseph. He is given a vision. Just a young farm boy, yet God says in Joseph’s childhood, “You’re going to be a great leader, and there are going to be many in the world who are going to bow down to you; they will acknowledge the leadership that is in your life.”
• Here’s a Moses, given a vision of the God of fire who cannot be consumed. This vision is of God taking Moses’ life and making him a leader of his people out of bondage.
• Here’s a Nehemiah, given a vision of a restored city. He’s given a vision of a mighty work of God, which compels him and thrusts him out on the edge of a new adventure for his life. He goes into the city of Jerusalem. He cannot come down off of the wall because of the significance of the work. He cannot compromise with the Arabs (that’s very, very interesting) because of the vision God has given him.
• Here’s a Joel, given a vision of a land that is prosperous, of people that are filled with plenty, of a band of followers of a Holy God; people who’ll find satisfaction in their lives and will not be disappointed regardless of what comes against them. They’re going to be a people blessed of Almighty God.
• Here’s a band of disciples who are so very few, about 12 in number, given a vision of ushering in and establishing the kingdom of God on earth. What a vision! Twelve men – ushering in the kingdom of God!
• Here’s that grain of wheat, given a vision of dying to itself, of reproducing many more grains of wheat and being fruitful in its life.
• Here’s a Paul, given a vision of touching his world with the gospel of which he was not ashamed!
• Here’s a John, whose friends are dying for the faith, given a vision of hope and victory, a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, and of celebration in the wedding of the Lord Jesus Christ with all His followers. With that vision in his heart not even death could discourage John or the Body of Christ, and they walked on victoriously because of the vision that God had given to them!

My co-laborer in India for ten years was Dwayne Weehunt, now founder and director of “Sower of the Seeds International,” who commented in one of his meetings: “When the church has vision, it changes society around it. But when there is no vision, society changes the church!”

Then you come and you think about where Satan’s seat is (I’m not sure that there is any church on the face of the earth today that’s not where Satan’s seat is – Bedford, Texas, Dallas, Texas, Nigeria, India or some place in Europe, Satan’s seat is prominent in the land). But “Here Is A Church That’s Given a Vision!” It’s going to be a faithful, caring, giving, telling, and healing community with a vision of hope, health, helpfulness, growth and prosperity, and spiritual plenty. It has a vision of joy and blessedness abounding, true salvation, the healing of the hurting and the broken-hearted, marriages restored, deliverance of captives, godly families putting their hands to the plow and not looking back, people who hunger and thirst after righteousness, a loving and caring family, a cooperative body of a rejoicing people that praise God for their present and for their future, a praying people that loose and bind, that release and restrain, that uplift and cast out.

There’s an old hymn that says:

“Once to every man and nation [or church?] Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, Offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, ‘Twixt that darkness and that light.”

The birth of a vision! All these men of God had a vision, and it was birthed within their hearts. And if there is the birth of a vision , what’s yours? What is it that God has revealed to you that He wants to accomplish in and through your life? We need to see and hear that vision. We need to know that God has spoken to our hearts. We need to be thankful that God is the God of visions and dreams, and that He is no respecter of persons. He has a vision for each one of our lives!

W. Graham Scroggie has written: “If one would be Christ-minded he must be missionary-minded, and one who is not this has no justification for calling himself a disciple of Christ. Are you missionary-minded?” Have YOU seen this vision?

Henry T. Blackaby, in “The Power of the Call” (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, TN. P.35) wrote: “God Himself chose us, called us in His time, and separated us out for Himself. As clearly as God separated from all other days and sanctified the seventh day (set it apart for Himself, Gen. 3:3) and commanded it to be ‘the Sabbath of the Lord your God’ (Exodus 20:10), so God set you apart from all others – for Himself!” And I would add – for His purposes, His visions, and His dreams!

THIRD, LET’S EXAMINE THE BATTLE OF THE VISIONS!

You need to be aware that whenever a vision is given and birthed within a person’s life, there is always going to be a battle about that vision. God ALWAYS gives a vision that places men at the point of their extremity where God begins to have an opportunity in their lives. GOD ALWAYS GIVES YOU A VISION THAT IS BEYOND YOURSELF! God gives a vision that puts people on the edge of impossibility where God becomes known as the God with whom all things are possible. That’s what our lives are all about: the God with whom all things are possible! So…He gives you a vision. I don’t know what that vision is going to be for you, but I’ll tell you this, it’s going to place you at the point where God has the opportunity to bring the impossible into reality as a demonstration of the greatness of our God. In fact, the vision God gives always brings His people to the point of “death” where they discover God as the power and authority and the Author of Life over death! Let me explain:

Let’s think about Abraham: “Abraham, you’re going to be the father of a great nation. Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” (By the way, how old was Abraham at this particular time when he gets this vision? I believe he’s about 100 years old and that the Bible says Sarah was past the age of childbearing.) So God gives them a vision, and says, “You’re going to have a son.” What did Sarah do? She began to laugh – but God had brought them to a place of impossibility in the natural, so that through the supernatural work of Almighty God, the vision He gave them can be fulfilled by Him!!

Think about Joseph. He’s the farm-boy, the little child to whom God had given a vision that this little shepherd boy would shepherd nations! God saw him as a world-leader. So what happened to Joseph? He was sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned; yet God raised him up as a world leader.

Consider Moses. “Moses, you’re going to lead My people out of bondage!” You cannot read the life of Moses, even before the burning bush experience, and not know that it was already in the heart of Moses that God had told him he was going to be the deliverer. So he goes out, acts impulsively, kills the Egyptian, and then out of fear of Pharoah runs for his life and spends 40 years on the backside of a desert with his rod as a shepherd. But even in spite of that, God raised Moses up!

And here are the disciples. They’re going to usher in and establish the kingdom of God on earth! Then their King is killed. They in their despair said, “We may as well go back to the old way of life; let’s just go back and be fishermen again,” yet the Resurrected Christ re-appointed them!

Here’s John – a new heaven, a new earth; you’re going to have life and victory – yet, the world around him was crumbling, his friends were dying about him every day. BUT GOD SAYS, “There’s going to be a new heaven and a new earth.”

What about “the wheat”? The one grain of wheat was going to be fruitful and bring forth a great harvest. Yet, it was placed into the ground, it rotted, it died. Then here came the mighty harvest!

What about the church? Victorious, mighty army, strong, dynamic force penetrating society, changing society, for the glory of God! When you read the Book of Acts, all of a sudden they were scattered abroad, everywhere, alone, weak, feeble, struggling. Yet the Bible says they turned their world upside down!

The battle of the vision! I don’t know what all that means. I have heard many people say to me, “God gave me a vision of what He was going to accomplish in my life. It was totally beyond the realm of human possibility, but God honored Himself and brought the fulfillment of that vision and dream into my heart.” Whatever He shows you is going to bring you to the edge of your own impossibility, where whatever He shows you will be possible for your life because “HE IS ABLE…!!”

God may say to you, “You’re going to be a doctor someday.” You reply, “A doctor? How could I be a doctor? I don’t even enjoy Biology or Chemistry!” God will bring it to pass. Whatever He says to you, He’s able to do! He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think!

FOURTH, EXAMINE THE BLESSINGS OF A VISION! What are the blessings?

THERE’S THE BLESSING OF DIRECTION. Just because we haven’t arrived as yet to the fulfillment of the vision that God may give to us does not make the vision unreal. So many times God gives a vision, it is ‘out there’ to be fulfilled, totally beyond us, it seems. Just because we haven’t stepped the soles of our feet on every inch of ground in that land of promises doesn’t mean the vision and the promises and the purpose of God has been defeated for us! But the sense of direction that we KNOW we heard from God, we know that He revealed His purpose, we know that He gave us the Divine blueprint, and it gives a sense of direction to us.

Dr. Paul Tillet made this statement: “God is present in the unknown forces that make us restless.” AND IF YOU’RE NOT RESTLESS, YOU’RE NOT LIVING ON THE EDGE OF GROWTH! If you’re not restless, you’re not on the edge of maturity, not on the edge of hunger and thirst for what God wants to do in and through your life. But if you’re there, and God has said, “This is what I’m going to accomplish through your life,” then there is a striving toward that sense of direction. It’s called the “Sabbath Rest”! Our striving is being finished with ourselves and found us in His faithfulness.

Oswald Chambers said in his “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.51) that we don’t “attain to a vision, we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself.” Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

There is nothing more beautiful than to see one who has heard from God and knows what God’s purpose and God’s plan is for that life. They commit themselves to that, they hold on to it, and they see the fulfillment of that vision. It may take years. Think about Caleb. It was forty years before Caleb saw the fulfillment of his vision. God said to Caleb, “I’m going to give you a mountain.” After he came into the land of promise, he went to his mountain, and said, “Give me my mountain.” It was 40 years from the time God gave him that vision of what his inheritance was going to be. He held onto it. It gave a sense of direction to his life, it gave a sense of purpose to his life. He would not be detoured away from what God had revealed to him. It gave him the blessing of direction!

THERE’S THE BLESSING OF DEPENDENCY. What did we say about the birth of a vision? About the battle of a vision? God is always going to bring you, with whatever He asks of you, to the place of impossibility. Why? So that whatever God is revealing, it takes Him to fulfill it. So there is the blessing of dependency. When I know that God has brought me there and given me a vision that is beyond me, then every day of my life I find myself dependent upon God for that fulfillment of the vision – and that’s a good place to be!

The Lord said when you pray, pray like this: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Give us this day our fulfillment of the vision, give us this day whatever is necessary to meet the physical, emotional, mental, material, spiritual needs of our lives – absolutely dependent!

Georgia Harkness is an outstanding Methodist theologian. The author wrote: “Christianity’s major world in the western world is secularism. Secularism defined? “The organization of human life as if God did not exist.” I thought about that as I read that statement. How many people organize their daily life as if God did not exist? And that’s true of some businesses, some families, yes, even some pastors and churches.

Acts 26:16 says: “I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you.” Verse 17 says, “…I am sending you.” Here is one who has a vision. As a result of that vision, he is sent out. Read verse 18. Whatever the vision is, there is purpose behind it: “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they also may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me.” Look at verse 22: “And so, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets said was going to take place.” Notice the first part of that 22^nd verse: “And so having obtained help from God…” That’s the blessing of dependency. God gives Paul such a vision that he understands that vision cannot be fulfilled in and of Paul himself. Paul understood that, and he obtained help from God! We ALL need that kind of vision – every one of us! We need the kind of vision that will cause us to be shipwrecked on the isle of God’s sovereignty and stranded on the island of His omnipotence, where, if the vision that God gives us is going to be fulfilled, He has to be the provider of everything that is necessary to fulfill that vision.

THERE IS ALSO THE BLESSING OF DELIVERANCE. Joel 2:32 says: “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape…” Deliverance from what?

Deliverance from the bondage of criticism of what we’re about with our lives. There is deliverance for the man who has a vision from God. Here’s the man who has this vision from God: He begins to “live” that vision, he begins to “die” for that vision, he begins to invest everything in himself to that vision…and opposition arises! Here comes a family member; along come close friends; business associates arise and begin to say, “You’re being so foolish; do you know what you’re doing? Do you realize what price you’re paying? How foolish can a man be?” Yet, what happens? Well, here’s a Paul who says, “It’s good to be a fool for Christ’s sake.” He was delivered from criticism of what he was about!

One of the biggest hindrances to the fulfillment of a vision in a person’s life is the opposition that comes from those who have no spiritual understanding of hearing the voice of God, of seeing a vision from God or a dream from God, and then pouring out their lives to see that vision come to be a reality within them. But if there is that vision burned within your heart, it doesn’t matter what family or friends may say. When you know that you’ve heard from God, you’re willing to lose everything, lay down your life and die, so that vision can be fulfilled through you!

There is deliverance from aimlessness. What is life all about with the people you come in contact with every day? Think about it – the people in your neighborhood, the people in your business office, the people where you work at that factory, the people you rub elbows with every day – what is their life all about? Can I tell you? Can I tell you that probably 80-90% of the people you come in contact with, their whole reason of existence is simply survival. They’re just doing the best they know how to survive. They have no purpose to life, no meaning to life, no aim to life, no goal to life except that they’re just trying to get by every day and survive life as it is. What a sad state of life! But when you have met Christ, when you have heard the voice of God, when you know He has spoken to you about your life purpose, you have an aim. You have direction. You have a goal. You have a purpose for living. And your life will never be the same! You are all business for the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

Let’s come back to Joel 2:26. “You shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied [Are you satisfied? REALLY satisfied? Is there contentment to your life?] and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; then My people will never be put to shame.” YOU shall praise the name of the Lord your God! Prayer and praise are how you maintain a vision. God inhabits the praises of His people! Prayer and praise maintain the vision! God inhabits the praises of His people! And when you arise in the morning, in that inner man, there ought to be that thankful spirit. When you walk through the day, there ought to be that thankful spirit that God has a purpose for your life; He’s given you a vision and a dream and you are fulfilling that vision and that dream. Praise the name of the Lord!

Not only is there praise to maintain the vision, but there is participation in the vision. Paul said: (Acts 26:19), “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” That is so practical to our lives. If we’re not participating with God in the fulfillment of what He reveals to us, we’re not maintaining the vision, and the vision will die! Paul was obedient to the vision God gave to him for his life and as a result of that he was maintaining the vision, there was fire in the vision, there was warmth to the vision, and it carried him through even to the point that he died for it because he knew God had spoken to his heart and life.

WHAT ABOUT BOUNDARIES TO THE VISION. Joel 2:28-29, “And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” Boundaries?

GOD HAS A VISION FOR EVERY INDIVIDUAL. (Philippians 1:21), “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” What is your purpose to life? What is your reason for living? What is the purpose in what you do with your daily life? Paul said, “For to me, to live is CHRIST” – to honor the Lord through all he is and all he does.

GOD HAS A VISION FOR YOUR OCCUPATION. (Exodus 31:1-6), “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are skillful I HAVE PUT SKILL that they may make all that I have commanded you.” God gives severally as He wills. He gives gifts unto men. That is a vision God will reveal to you, as clear as a ringing bell! It may take a while for that bell to ring clearly in your mind and heart and spirit, but God has a purpose for your life!

GOD HAS A VISION FOR YOUR FAMILY. (Genesis 12:1-3) “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God is no respecter of persons. If God had a vision for Abram and his family, through which all the families of the earth shall be blessed, then God has a vision for your family. Begin to thank Him!

GOD HAS A VISION FOR INDIVIDUAL CHURCHES. Acts 1:7-8, He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs [seasons] which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” God revealed His purpose to individuals, and to the body of believers. He gives a vision, a dream, a direct order, yes, to fellowships.

What did we begin with? “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” What is YOUR vision before God? What has God revealed to you? I believe we ought to pray for that vision or dream. We ought to have a vision for our nation! Whenever we lose sight of the vision of God for a nation, the people perish. Whenever a fellowship loses sight of its vision, the people perish. Even in marriages – when they have no vision of what their purpose is before Holy God in marriage, marriages drop like dying flies! It’s so true, yes, of individuals. That’s why it’s so important to be committed to that one, to the many, whose hearts are going after God. For what fellowship does light have with darkness? There is none. We need a vision!

Barbara Reynolds, a liberal columnist for USA Today, wrote an enlightening column for June 25, 1993. She was addressing the clouds and thunderclaps of lawlessness and lack of social order that hangs over far too many country’s major cities. She wrote: “Those murderous habits aren’t based solely on financial poverty, but on a bankrupt human spirit caused by an absence of the Spirit of God. If it weren’t for the religious faithful [in cities and schools], life would be utterly hopeless.” She was so right! But even more, if we lose the religious faithful who’ve been captured by Vision, Vision from God, all segments of human life will be utterly hopeless! But we are not “hopeless” people; we are hope-filled servants of the Most High God who unveils for us the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God!

Let me close this truth of vision with several tremendous statements penned by Gloria Gaither in “An Old Friend Not Forgotten.” Bill Gaither included this in his “Homecoming Collectors’ Edition (Gaither Music Company, 1993): “The world is oblivious for there are too few visionaries. Too blind to subtleties and too imprisoned by carnivals. Too numb to gentleness and too overwhelmed by power. Too deaf to music and too stimulated by noise. Too dull to recognize the permanent – too focused to the transient. Too tuned out to the prophets, too attuned to the hucksters. The world is oblivious for there are too few visionaries…The world is losing heart for there are too few dreamers. Too much cynicism and not enough faith. Too much hype and not enough hope. Too much savvy and not enough wisdom. Too much money and not enough treasure. Too much form and not enough substance. Too many takers and not enough givers. Too many dissenters and not enough inspirers. The world is losing heart, for there are too few dreamers…Into such a world God sends His poets, prophets, troubadours who see what we have missed, who warn us lest we self-destruct, and who fill the songless night with music. They surround our alienation with love’s embrace; they burn through the fog of our oblivion with the piercing light of truth, and they sing the dream back into our hearts.” AMEN?

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

MARVELOUS MERCY & MATCHLESS GRACE

Micah 7:18–20

I don’t know where your faith rests, but I want to let you know my faith is not in my natural abilities, my fleshly instincts, my educational degrees, my personal disciplines or lack of them; it’s not in my personal goals, visions or dreams; it’s not in self, dogged determinism, my best efforts, my untiring discipline.

Here’s how Paul put it in I Corinthians 15:10, “and His grace toward me was not in vain.” And the one thing I want you to discern today is that His marvelous mercy and matchless grace will never fall short of your point of need!

Remember Jesus speaking in Luke 11: 11–12? “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer a scorpion?” YOU KNOW THE ANSWER!

He sits on the throne of mercy. He governs by the spirit of grace. He’s the Father looking down the road for the prodigal’s return – and He awaits, not with scolding and condemnation, but a celebration spirit that it’s Heaven’s “party–time”!

Have you ever felt hopeless in your spiritual pilgrimage – and then you hear there is a haven of rest? Have you ever sensed a lack of confidence on your spiritual journey – and then you become aware of “holy presence” revealing the Way?

Have you ever found yourself on the canvas of life, on your back, trying to comprehend the knock–out blow to your chin, ever so helpless – then Jesus says, “Get up – this bout is not over, it’s just begun?”

Have you ever been in the throes of spiritual darkness, not discerning the next step to take in what direction – but you hear a voice: “This is the Way, walk you in it?”

Have you ever been “down” – “I’ve fallen & I can’t get up!” But then Jesus says , “Rise & Walk” – and you arise & walk!

It’s been a self–indulgent, spiraling downward, careless, corrupt life–style – and you wonder, “Is there any hope?’ “Is there a recovery possibility?” “Am I too far gone?”

That’s what the powers of darkness would like you to think. That’s what the faithless want you to believe. That’s what the hopeless hope you hold to so there’ll be miserable feelings in you as well as them, the misery loves company crowd!

A cloud of confusion colors the true picture of the nature and character of God – “I’ve fallen beyond the reach of God and, really, He could care less about me.” Is that true?

“I’m too far gone – and His reach is shortened by my degree and depth of sinfulness.” Is that true?

Can’t you hear it? “I’ve gone too far, I’ve fallen too hard, I’m too deep in bondage for even God Himself to help me.” Is that true?

Fallen sin–nature theories, immature conceptions and ideas, even vain imaginations control even the minds of saints who have fallen when they ignore biblical revelation and, yes, the very heart of God!

I want to smash the mental entrenchments that ignore revealed truth. I want to smother the poisonous gases of fleshly determinations about the heart of God. I want to suffocate the breaths of spiritual ignorance that paint a false picture of God’s activity in behalf of fallen humanity and reveal the true knowledge of God that brings salvation, healing, deliverance, restoration, and renewal.

I believe Paul told the church at Corinth [2 Corinthians 10:5], that we’re to “bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

How many of us have walked in our faith for a long time on the sea of smooth waters, and then, all of a sudden we find ourselves under dark clouds, stormy waters, and the horrendous winds of a walk contrary to God’s will? Have you ever been there?

How many of us have forgotten where we once were with Christ, and now we’re filled with fear as to whether or not we can recover what we once had and move on into His fullness?

There is the ministry of the interior but I’ve majored on the exterior. There is the ministry of the Spirit But I’ve focused on the flesh. There is the ministry of the eternal but I’ve settled on the temporal. And there is no joy, no peace, no contentment, no spiritual satisfaction of blessing in my relationship to Him – Is there a word?

In Hebrews 13, two phrases in verses 5 & 6 I want you to see:

Hebrews 13:5, “For He Himself has said…” Hebrews 13:6, “So we may boldly say…”

Can you rest your life on that? Can you settle your hope for eternity on those two phrases? Can you say what God says?

Faithlessness, futility, feebleness, frailty, frustrations are not to be words, spirits, seasons, or points in our walk that describe our eternal relationship with Holy God. “For He Himself has said…,” so now “we may boldly say!”

I love I Corinthians 10:13! Let me paraphrase: “No test has overcome or overtaken you except such as is common to man; but GOD IS FAITHFUL who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the testing will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

There is something that must be indelibly printed on your mind and your heart: THE MEASURE OF YOUR FAILURE, YOUR FALL, YOUR PAIN, YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT WITH YOURSELF, IS NOT GREATER THAN GOD’S MARVELOUS MERCY AND MATCHLESS GRACE!!

Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost [the furtherest throw away from Him] those who come to God through Christ, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Three things of vital importance for you to rest in today from Micah 7:18–20:

FIRST, “ONCE AGAIN…” Can you rest your faith on those two words? “Once again…!”

I don’t believe the spirit of those two words is carte blanche for open sin and rebellion. I don’t believe it’s saying, “Do as you please – God doesn’t care as long as you believe.” I don’t believe it’s a call to acceptance of His grace without any accountability. I don’t believe it is a liberating license to licentiousness and the low road to lesser than Christ’s best.

That’s how some fall into the trap of “God’s obligation to accept me regardless of what I do because I believe.”

“Once again” is the description of the heart of God. “Once again” is the hymn of God’s faithfulness. “Once again” is the clarion call to turn to Him, not the acceptance of our self–indulgence with our hollowness and emptiness.

“Once again” is God’s demonstration of His great love for us “in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” [Romans 5:8]. ‘Demonstrates’ is the “once again” of present tense, continuous action, out of the overflow of God’s heart.

“Once again” is God’s covenant of grace with Himself & us – the rainbow that reminds Him the world will never again be destroyed by a flood of water.

“Once again is God’s cry of victory over the battles you felt you’d horribly lost.

“Once again” true sheep have wandered but the True Shepherd seeks them out, even though wandering on the dark mountains of sin, selfishness, and shame.

“Once again” is the unveiling of the authenticity of God’s mercy and grace and the awareness and amplification of our great need of Him.

“Once again” is the authority of God over the “god of this age” bringing victory in your life over the powers of darkness even when “the whole world is in the power of the evil one.”

“Once again” is the unconditional love of the Father for His children who fell short of the Family heritage and loyalty.

“Once again” is the proof of God’s unfailing love for us when we’ve been seared by the paralyzing torture of falling short and He picks us up when we stumble and sings over us the hymn of His acceptance.

“Once again” is His knock at our heart’s door when we thought it best to shut Him out – “I’m not worthy of Him!” – communion was absent but the hound dog of heaven was hot at our heels!

“Once again” is the symphony of praise that cannot be drowned out even when you wonder, “How do you sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

It was Samuel Rutherford, Scottish minister in the 1600’s, imprisoned for his ‘non–conformity’ by Episcopalians who did not welcome his Presbyterian persuasions. He spent two years in prison. In prison he gave us a strong look at the true “once again,” enduring peace, pleasure, and blessing.

[E.M. Bounds wrote about it in “Heaven: A Place, A City, A Home.” Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1975, p13.]: “If God had told me some time ago that He was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that He should begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing His purpose. And yet, how is His wisdom manifest even in this! For if you should see a man shut up in a close room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven.”

You are in darkness – but the light of heaven once again shines upon you!

You have sunk to a depraved state – but the light of heaven once again radiates upon you!

You were ready to denounce your faith because of your disappointment in yourself – but the light of heaven has broken through!

You’ve heard it from the atheists and liberal, faithless professors: “Born again” is not possible – but “once again” there is a new creation.

“Born again” is a figment of one’s imagination – but “once again” imagination is replaced by redemptive reality.

“Born again” is natural man’s ascendancy to human potential – but “once again” God signs His name in the blood of Christ on the heart of that man saying, “He’s Mine!!”

“Born again” is religious foolishness that blinds the uneducated, an “opiate” of the people dulling their senses – but “once again” we fled for refuge, found strong encouragement, and laid hold of heavenly hope, an anchor of the soul!

Hear me, church! THE THEREFORE OF GOD’S WHEREFORE OF OUR “ONCE AGAIN” VIBRANT FAITH WITH A VIEW OF ETERNAL REALITY WILL CAPTURE US AND WE’LL SAY: GOD LOVES US AND HAS “ONCE AGAIN” MADE A WAY FOR US!

SECOND, “ONCE AGAIN – GOD WILL!” How powerful is that! Is it “you will” or “God will”? – and every man has that choice in himself as to what foundation he rests his life upon.

It’s God’s will that birthed salvation by grace through faith. It’s God’s will that this is accomplished through the shed blood of the Lamb of God alone. It’s God’s will that fallen man experiences that salvation through repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary. It’s God’s will that that salvation process is perseverance unto perfection, “conformed to the image of Christ.” [Romans 8:29]

Listen to John 6:39–40! “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

You will or God will?

Hear Jesus! Matthew 4:19, “and I WILL make you fishers of men.” Matthew 11:28, “and I WILL give you rest.”

Matthew 16:19, “I WILL give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, But My words WILL BY NO MEANS pass away.”

Romans 5:17, “…much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness WILL REIGN IN LIFE THROUGH THE ONE, JESUS CHRIST.”

Do you remember Paul saying that we should “understand what the will of the Lord is?” [Ephesians 5:17]

What did we read in Micah 7:18–20? “Who is a God like You?” What a profound, penetrating, perfecting statement in the heart of a man who wants to know God! What did Micah say?

“He will again have compassion on us…He will subdue our iniquities…He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea…He will give truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham…”

There is something marvelous that is about to happen if you haven’t sensed it as yet. In Acts 9:16 God promises His “return” – and when He does, He says: “I will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up, verse 17, So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord…”

2 Peter 3:9 says, “God is NOT WILLING that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Jesus says, “I’m WILLING – be cleansed.”

What did we see in John 6:40? “And this IS THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I WILL raise him up at the last day.”

What’s the old saying? “None are so blind as those who will not see!” Did you hear it? “This is the will of Him who sent Jesus!” God’s heart, God’s design, God’s desire, God’s pleasure, God’s passion, God’s intent, God’s strategy, God’s Way, Truth, and Life – “that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to] may have everlasting life; and [Jesus] will raise him up at the last day.”

THIRD TRUTH: “ONCE AGAIN – GOD WILL – REMIND US OF EVERLASTING COVENANTS.” Look at Micah 7:20, “You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.”

Is that written into the fabric of your faith? “You have sworn, You swore to our fathers, and You swore from days of old until now, and You’ll still be swearing in the days to come!”

Are you familiar with Isaiah 55:11? HEAR IT! [God speaking], “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me VOID [or empty without fruit], but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall proper in the thing for which I sent it.”

You heard earlier Jesus speaking in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

“Lord, I was so foolish in that fall; but I remind You, You’ve said: “You’ll have compassion on me, You’ll subdue my iniquities, You’ll cast all my sins into the sea of Your forgetfulness, and You’ll give me truth to stand on, because You swore to my spiritual fathers, even from the foundation of the earth until now.”

“Lord, I was so stupid to give a ‘toe–hold’ to the devil; I opened the door of temptation; I let sin reign in that moment rather than righteousness. I was so wrong – but You say there’s a throne of mercy and the gift of grace. I need it today – right now.”

“Lord, we both were so selfishly insane in our marriage, choosing self–will over divine will, flesh over Spirit, my way or the highway. But You say, ‘Marred marriages are My specialty. Right now take the sentence of death unto yourselves and the resurrected Life of Jesus will be manifested.”

Come to Psalm 121 and follow and see from where your true Help comes: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul… The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Daniel B. Towner understood this when he wrote this hymn: “Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned; Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned, Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary.

Now I’ve given to Jesus everything, Now I gladly own Him as my King, Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary.

O the love that drew salvation’s plan! O the grace that brought it down to man! O the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary!

Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty…At Calvary!”

In “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p266], Oswald Chambers has a powerful word for us about Galatians 6:14 which says, “But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Hear it:

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ always forces an issue of will. Do I accept God’s verdict on sin in the cross of Christ? Have I the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self – to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for everything else but Him? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His cross, and that means death .”

And from Micah 7:18–20 you’re reminded: IT’S HIS DEATH THAT LIBERATES ME! IT’S HIS SACRIFICE THAT SETS ME FREE! Hear me wanderer; no, hear me wandering child of faith – God has a word for you: Isaiah 54:4–8! “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused, says your God. For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.”

His compassion is real; His strength to subdue our iniquities is real, His grace to cast all our sins into the depths of the sea is real, and His covenant truth reigns forever!

Accept His Marvelous Mercy and His Matchless Grace!

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“KINGDOM LIVING – KINGDOM BLESSINGS!”

It’s a day in “Christian circles”, whether schools, universities, churches, businesses, or homes, when the revelation truth of “Kingdom Living” needs to be resurrected ! I’m really not sure if even ‘seminaries’ have taught at all about this subject but rather majored on ‘church life’ void of what is called by most the “Lord’s Prayer”! I want you to read it carefully at least a dozen times in one sitting, and for a period daily of at least one month! I want you immersed in the Lord’s Prayer! It says in Matthew 6:9-13 the following words of Jesus as He trained His disciples, yet, it was months, even years before it sank in to their minds and hearts and wills – Hear His Prayer!

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

But I wonder! How many prayers are engaged in the pure desire to see Christ’s Kingdom-Rule on earth, in their hearts and homes, overseeing and ruling in a redemptive Way in all they do, to His honor, His glory, and passionately praying to be equipped “in Him” in touching our world with His Kingdom mission and Kingdom blessings”?

Oh, and here’s the real “kicker”! In Matthew 6:33 the Lord Jesus said, “But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” And, in seeking First “the kingdom of God”, is that willful submission and faithful obedience in all He tells you to do? “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”! Does that shock you or surprise you that the heart of Jesus’ prayer and your praying is to usher in heavenly living on earth?

And how interesting and awakening do you find it when in Matthew 6:25-27 the Lord Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, take no thought for your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on? Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”

Your heavenly Father KNOWS your birthing, He knows how to bless you, He knows how to “bear with you” in life’s struggles, their turmoils, their ups and their downs, He knows how to bid and abide peaceably and confidently in your every step, and His heart and mind overflows in benevolence for your sovereign care! And, again, in Matthew 6:32b Jesus said, “…For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things…”, so why ‘worry’ when you can worship the One who cares for you more than you care about yourself?

Do you grasp that Father-God, the Lord Jesus, and the convicting and convincing Holy Spirit wants YOU living day by day in the CONFIDENCE of God’s faithfulness? “Kingdom Living”? In Matthew 13:18-23 Jesus shared the parable of the sower. He said: “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone HEARS THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Are you aware that in this 21-first-century that there are not many, if any, places where the Word of God has not gone? I traveled our ‘known’ world for twenty-five years, and I seldom found nations or countries without a church, but I soon learned that a local church does not necessarily mean their location had been saturated with the Word of “blood Redemption” through Christ Jesus! I saw people on the streets of foreign cities who had never heard the name of Christ Jesus or heard that He shed His own blood for their salvation, reconciling them to God’s eternal earthly, worldly purpose for their lives and families!

“Seek first the kingdom of God”, “Take no thought for your life (in the flesh)”, “Hear the word of the kingdom”, yet masses of people locally or worldwide have no understanding about “steadfastly in Christ possessing their souls” with the deed of their bodies, minds, spirits, and souls transferred to the ownership of Christ Himself!

Pause to reflect upon what it is that consumes most people in their everyday lives: “I know I was ‘birthed’ – and I’ll ‘try my best’ to make the most I can out of it, with others possessing not even a penny’s worth of concern about why they are here other than ‘self-indulgence’, trying to find something or someone to satisfy the vast emptiness of the mind, soul, and body!

“I’m here, and eternal purpose for me is not a consideration – I live motivated by what satisfies ME!” “I’m here, and it takes a job of some kind to supply what I want!” “I’m here – and I don’t want to live a ‘naked existence – I’ve got to clothe myself and my family!” “I’m here – and breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks in between requires I labor!”

Do you sense at all that many Americans are more concerned about their “outward dressing” more than they are how they are “heart-dressed” before Holy God? Is it “physical bread” without any consideration of “the manna from Heaven”?

In Matthew 4:1-11 there are “soul-awakening, spirit-shocking” Verses! It says: Then Jesus WAS LED UP BY THE SPIRIT (THAT’S THE HOLY SPIRIT!) into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him (Is it possible that the “tempter” has come to you many times nut you didn’t recognize him?), he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by (physical) bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Is there a hunger in you for the “bread of Truth” and for the “meat of His Word”, or is it just three square meals a day physically that satisfies you?

In Deuteronomy 8:1 Holy God spoke: “Every commandment which I command you today you MUST BE CAREFUL TO OBSERVE, that you may live and multiply, AND GO IN AND POSSESS THE LAND OF WHICH THE Lord swore to your fathers.” Dare I tell you that “the land” you are to possess wisely is the land of your own mind, heart, soul, and spirit, possessed wisely by yielding daily to the True Owner who “bought you with a price”, yes, the shed blood of the Lamb of God!

Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” And later, in John 16:7-15, we learn of one of the most important of “Kingdom Blessings”! Jesus said to young disciples, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said to you that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” ARE YOU KEEPING THE SOVEREIGNLY, ORDAINED APPOINTMENTS OF SPIRIT-ASSISTANCE IN GUIDING YOU IN ALL BIBLICAL TRUTH?

I find it extremely interesting and convicting to hear the Lord Jesus speak to me and you when He said in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you AND appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

And “Kingdom Living” through the grace, mercy, and love of God leads to the true remnant of faith involved in “Kingdom Blessings”! “Kingdom Living” comes about because of the “grafted in” “Kingdom Character” which abounds in “Kingdom Blessings”!!

And do you remember the First of the “kingdom Blessings” found in Matthew 5:3 where Jesus spoke the following: “BLESSED are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That’s “heaven on earth in the life of a ‘poor in spirit’ person who repents”, who turns from ‘self’ to the Savior and Lord, who abandons and exchanges the old sin nature for the “new Life in Christ”, who tires of his fleshly best, even seeing no ushering in of Kingdom allegiance by his endeavor to, at least, live acceptably by the world around! But ‘the world around’ is not going to lead one to True Kingdom allegiance apart from devotion to the King of kings and Lord of lords!

So, Matthew 5:4 declares: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” What did the prophet Isaiah hear about the Spirit on Christ Jesus and His ministry to and through our Savior and Lord, even extended to us? Isaiah 61: 1-3 says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach glad tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

In Matthew 5:5 we read, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek? They’re the “teachable”, not the stiff-necked, cold-hearted, or minds dominated by stubbornness and indifference when it comes to trusting Holy God! The ‘earth’ is the new invisible ‘kingdom of righteousness’ being built by the Master-Contractor who takes you and me as ‘stones’ in the building of His Holy Temple only seen by spiritual, re-born eyes in tune to His eternal will and purpose!

And the ‘teachable’ inheriting ‘the earth’? Because we achieve or we receive? Because we merit it or we’re mercied? Earned or credited? Pumped up or poured out on us by God’s grace and mercy? Bought personally or paid for by the Lamb’s blood? Self-genius or Sovereign grace? Talented or “touched by the Master’s hands and taken over in our minds and hearts? Entering Man-made doors or embraced by His amazing love? Personal initiative or the Prince of Peace’s intervention? Perplexed or persuaded?

What does Matthew 5:6 tell us? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” We hunger and thirst, but the filling of us in righteousness is God’s doing! “Shall be filled” is in the “passive” voice – Someone else does the filling as we hunger and thirst before Him for His righteousness!

In Matthew 5:7 we read, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” It’s not in the human anatomy apart from God to be merciful – it’s much easier for lost men to be “revenge-filled”, but when Christ enters our hearts, He’s able to be Himself in us, and He extends mercy through us!

Oh, in Matthew 5:8, Jesus really gets “testy”! He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Get ready! Christ Jesus really stirred the waters among the “religious Jews” – and He can do the same in some ‘religious communities’! In Matthew 23:23-28 Jesus exposed ‘outward loyalty’ apart from true devotion to the Righteous One, the Lord Jesus. He said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel!

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them nay be clean also.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Would you say that modern-day Pharisaism is “pretense” at attempting to live ‘religiously’ apart from “re-birth” and “true transformation by the grace of God and the blood of the Lamb”? Are you a “pretender” or, yes, a “partaker of Christ’s Sufferings”? (1 Peter 4:13).

“Kingdom Living and Kingdom Blessings” come about by being finished with one’s own abilities and “resting” in the Resurrection Life of Christ! Personal ambitions and personal drives block “Christ in you the hope of glory”! Individual evaluation and individual determination that doesn’t begin at the Cross of Christ and His empty Tomb and His heavenly reign in you is fraudulent, deceived, and totally misleading! Your way is not God’s Way – never has been and never will be! Accept YOUR death with Christ on the Cross, and live in, through, and by His Resurrection Presence in you! What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 5:17?

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things become new.” For you, is it “newness living in Christ” or the “gut-it-up mentality” of the “pretenders”?

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

FACING NEW DAYS CONFIDENTLY

Time. What is it? The seconds, minutes or hours on your wrist watch? For the ancients was time just the shadow on their sun dial? Is time the gauging of the midnight hour on your old grandfather clock? Is it the grains of sand seeping through the hour glass?

Tolstoy, in “War and Peace,” said: “Time is infinite movement without one moment of rest.” Sometimes I say YES to that! J.A. Van Horn, in “Physics Today,” said: “To the philosopher, time is one of the fundamental quantities. To the average man, time has something to do with dinner.” Longfellow wrote in “Hyperion,” “Time is the life of the soul.” That definition gets a little closer to the truth! Plato put it like this: “Time is the image of eternity.”

Considering all of the prior attempts at defining time, I believe a better explanation would be, “Time is the moment for a life, with the brush of faith, to stroke on the canvas of one’s being the masterpiece of the presence of God, the reflection of the eternal, through repentance, reconciliation, and redemption.”

Look with me at Ecclesiastes 3:1-9. “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven – a time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing. A Time to search, and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep, and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?”

And verse 9 brings us to the moment of divine confrontation, “What eternal profit is there in the daily investment of my life?”

In “A Psalm of Life,” Longfellow wrote: “Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sand of time.” Leah Richmond said, “There is a time to be born and a time to die, says Solomon, and it is the momento of a truly wise man; but there is an interval between these two times of infinite importance.”

In Galatians 4:10,11, Paul is talking to a church who saw only the “surface” and had not yet majored on the “substance.” “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”

Jesus spoke to the multitude in Luke 12:54-56, “And He was also saying to the multitude, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?”

The Psalmist had a discerning of the days when in Psalm 39:4-7 he said, “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the extent of my days, let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreaths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight, surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches, and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.”

I want us to study what we must possess in order to face new days confidently. FIRST, WE MUST KNOW THE DAYS ARE DIVINELY ORDAINED.

Psalm 31:15 says, “My times are in God’s hand…” Do you believe that, or is each day just an accident of the ages? Ecclesiastes 8:15 speaks of “the days of [a man’s] life which God gives him under the sun.” Are the days of my life gifts of His grace? Is He in control of those seconds, minutes, hours, days on the clock of my life?

Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” How awesome when we see it!

I believe without a doubt that multitudes never come into confident living in their hour because they’ve never seen themselves as a piece of the puzzle that God is putting together. I believe that many never come into confident living in their marriages because they have never really seen their marriages as an interpretation to the world of what Christ and His bride are like. I believe that far too many businessmen have missed eternal blessings because they’ve built, they think, businesses as a reward of their own diligence and not a tool to honor God and expand His kingdom.

Frederick William Faber: “The surest method of arriving at a knowledge of God’s eternal purposes about us is to be found in the right use of the present moment. Each hour comes with some little fagot of God’s will fastened upon its back.” I would only add, “…not some little fagot of God’s will, but the full assurance of divine intent fastened to your heart!”

Paul, in Acts 17:26-28, said to the aimless Athenians, “And He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist…”

Isaiah 49:5 says, “And now the Lord says, Who formed ME from the womb to be His servant…” And because I know my days and times are ordained of God, according to Psalm 62:8, I will “Trust in Him at all times…” In verse 5 the Psalmist said, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation (or hope) is from Him.”

And because I know my days and times are ordained of God, according to Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth…” And because I know my days and times are ordained of God, I’ll not see change as a disaster, but as a blessing! Daniel 2:20-22 says, “Daniel answered and said, let the name of the Lord be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. And it is He who changes the times and epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.”

In Robert Wise’s book, “When The Night Is Too Long,” he quotes a poem written by Ruth Harms Calkin entitled “Once For All.” The poem was found in the belongings of a friend, Jan Wolfard, who had helped him with typing over the years. Jan had suffered from a serious mental illness, he says, “triggered by the failure of her marriage.” But with God’s help and Robert Wise’s, she’d climbed back. At the age of 38, she died. In her belongings they came across Ruth Calkin’s poem: “Lord, may I settle it once and for all that I am dealing directly with You. You need never apologize for any plan You ordain for me since nothing but good can come from Your hand. You are sufficient for every changing circumstance in my God-planned life, for every unchanging circumstance as well.”

Do you sense divine ordination over your life? In Jeremiah 1:9,10, Jeremiah says, “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Is God’s divine ordination written on your mind and heart yet? Look with me at Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your Book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.”

WE MUST SEE THE DAYS AS DAYS OF DIVINE OPPORTUNITY. In Ephesians 1:5,6, Paul said, “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will – to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Verse 12 goes on to say, “that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.” And verse 14 reiterates, “to the praise of His glory.”

Days of divine opportunity are to be days of magnifying Him! 2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

To the Galatians, Paul put it like this: “but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace…to reveal His Son in me!”

Robert Wise, in “When The Night Is Too Long,” tells an awesome story of Christ-like ministry and response as we walk life’s paths of opportunity:

“Kitty Hart is an amazingly energetic woman with great drive. An x-ray technician, she has also raised two out-standing sons. Perhaps the most remarkable quality one discovers as Kitty talks is her energetic buoyancy and zest for living. Considering the extraordinary pain that has filled her life, her optimism is confounding. The fact that she is alive is itself something of a miracle.

As a teenage Jewish girl, Kitty and her family were torn apart by the Nazi assault that ripped her world to pieces. As her family struggled to survive annihilation, they were separated. She and her mother were shipped to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. Her father and her brother disappeared.

Kitty discovered quickly that survival depended on doing daily jobs too nauseating to describe. Such tasks as carrying out buckets of human waste from latrines provided minimal shelter to keep winter ice storms from devouring her. Removing jewelry and other items from bodies being prepared for crematoriums gave her precious trinkets with which to bargain for bits of food. Being on a detail that spent the days throwing bodies onto wagons kept her out of the endless flow of human traffic toward the crematoriums. Kitty’s adolescence was spent in pursuit of an existence that seems worse than death.

The horror of the murder of six million Jews is so overwhelming that statistics have persuaded many that people are essentially only animals. The Hitlers, Himmlers, Eichmanns, and Mengelas seem to prove the hypothesis that humanity is no more than the most cunning and dangerous of all species. The death camps suggest that survival of the fittest is a fact and the only measure of right in this universe. So the experience of Kitty Hart poses an unavoidable question for us. Can people really be a reflection of a God of love?

As the years dragged on, Kitty was subjected to horrors that only increased with time. During one period she worked in the infirmary. As the sick poured in, Kitty found old friends and relatives among the multitude. Reunions were a singular source of joy when she was able to smuggle in a crumb of bread or an article of clothing to help someone survive. On one of those bleak winter mornings, the commandant appeared, demanding that the entire infirmary be emptied into waiting trucks. Instantly everyone knew that must mean death.

The influx of more and more Jews had produced an overload of sick people. The Nazi solution for the crowding was to exterminate the present population. Since none would survive anyway, recovering patients were only marking time until they disappeared.

Kitty knew there was no alternative but to comply with the orders, which soldiers stood ready to enforce with club and bayonet. One by one she helped her friends out of the cold, shabby sick bay on their way to death. At such moments the terror and horror that mingled with overwhelming anger created a single desire. Should she survive, the day would come when she would avenge the butchery. Hate kept Kitty alive.

Even though the end of the war was at hand and the defeat of the Nazis had become imminent, Kitty and her mother were sent on a death march to another camp. All that kept her bleeding feet moving was the burning intention to get her hands on her German captors. Germans of any shape or size. Germans who would bleed and die as her people had. Germans who could be strangled.

On the final day of their imprisonment, Kitty and her mother noticed that men in strange uniforms were walking outside the barbed wire. Then an SS guard appeared and announced surrender to the Allies. Immediately the prisoners turned on him, tearing his uniform from his body. As the other inmates beat him, Kitty saw his dagger fall to the ground. Instantly she grabbed the knife and ran for the gate out of the camp. Surging together, the prisoners rampaged into the town seeking food. Kitty clutched at the dagger with one thought in mind. Somewhere she would find a German to try to even a score that had never been settled.

Breaking down the door to one of the village houses they poured in seeking food. The house appeared empty until a prisoner noticed a door that went down to the basement. Quickly Kitty descended the stairs with the knife in the air, poised for attack. From out of the shadows the forms of people began to emerge. There they were. Germans who were trapped just as Kitty and her friends had been for all those years.

“Throw it!” someone yelled in her ear. “Stick them!” As one man stepped from the group, Kitty drew her arm over her head ready to plunge the knife into his chest.

“Throw it!” the man behind her screamed. With the blade overhead, a most contrary impulse surged up from her soul. An almost lost emotion touched her intention. Deep within the recesses of her mind, compassion arose. Unexpected goodness froze the knife in the air. Her obsession with revenge gave way to thoughts of forgiveness. To Kitty’s amazement, her own hand turned, hurling the knife against a wall where it fell harmlessly to the floor.

“I realized that if I killed the man, the Nazis would have succeeded in making me like them,” she now reflects. By bearing humiliation and degradation with forgiveness, Kitty demonstrated that the inhumanity of the Nazis was only a momentary perversion of true humanity. Kitty is living proof that the image of God can be obscured, but not destroyed. The worst life offers produced in her a transcendent quality of character.

Kitty found that she was changed by her decision. By exchanging benevolence for bestiality, she profited the most.

How can the effect of years filled with hate be revised in a few moments of forgiveness? Nothing compares with the power of love. No cleansing agent, no scouring powder, no catharsis can accomplish what a few moments of absolution will do for the soul. The darkest depths of hate reveal most fully the highest possibilities of love.” WOW! DAYS OF OPPORTUNITY – days of ministry to reveal Christ!

WE MUST SEE THE DAYS AS DAYS OF OCCUPATION! Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 says, “I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

Luke 10:13 makes a similar point: “So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Occupy (or do business) till I come.” Do you remember young Jesus’ response to His parents when they came back to Jerusalem to find him? Luke 2:49, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

George Macdonald, in the “Marquis of Losaie”, wrote, “I find the doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.”

** DAYS OF OCCUPATION ARE DAYS OF DECISIONS – Ephesians 1:1 says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God…” What is the will of God for your life? I Corinthians 2:2 says, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Ephesians 6:6 says, “servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart…”

**DAYS OF OCCUPATION ARE DAYS OF DETERMINATION – Look with me at 2 Samuel 23:10-12, “He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword, and the Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain. Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hazarite. And the Philistines were gathered into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory.”

Henry Parry Liddon says, “Nothing is really lost by sacrifice; everything is lost by failure to obey God’s call.” John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “In simple trust like theirs who heard beside the Syrian Sea the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word rise up and follow God.”

Hebrews 12:2-3 says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”

** DAYS OF OCCUPATION ARE DAYS OF DISCIPLINE – Look carefully at I Corinthians 9:23-27 and ask yourself, “Is my walk with Christ disciplined?” “And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body, and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”

As Paul came near the end of his life, he wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

WE MUST SEE THE DAYS AS DAYS OF ORDER: Do you remember “good King Hezekiah?” In 2 Kings 20:1-2 Hezekiah was sick and near death and Isaiah the prophet went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.” In Amos 4:2 God said, “Prepare to meet your God!!” Set your house in order! Days of order are days of preparation, examination, devotedness and readiness.

In Luke 16:2 Jesus speaks of the rich man’s steward when he called him to himself and said, “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship…”

To the church at Corinth Paul said, “It is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” Set your house in order.

Matthew 25:10 speaks of those five foolish virgins: “And while the five foolish virgins went to buy, the bridegroom, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding. And the door was shut.” Set your house in order!

Revelation 19:7 also speaks of a wedding. “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and HIS WIFE HAS MADE HERSELF READY.” Set your house in order!

Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest” wrote, “The great need for the Christian worker is to be ready to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience is. The battle is not against sin or difficulties or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in work that we are not ready to face Jesus Christ at every turn. That is the one great need, not the facing of our belief, or our creed, the question whether we are of any use, but to face Him…Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn…If you are ‘looking off unto Jesus’ avoiding the call of the religious age you live in, and setting your heart on what He wants, on thinking on His line, you will be the only one who is ready. Trust no one, not even the finest saint who ever walked this earth, ignore him, if he hinders your sight of Jesus Christ.” SET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER!

WE MUST LIVE THE DAYS WITH THE PROMISE OF OVERCOMING! I John 5:4 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith!”

In I Corinthians 15:57 we read, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is it so? Then…”These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace; In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

We are not called to Christ to be men and women filled with pessimistic fear, but men and women empowered by a powerful faith of “Victory In Jesus.” We are not called to Christ to be disciples clouded by doubts, but disciples who are gloriously certain of our conquest because of the unconquerable majesty of Christ. We are not called to Christ to be His servants bathed in the foul smell of failure and short coming, but servants flooded with the heavenly perfume of Christ’s joy, His triumphant victory, and His overcoming life.

We don’t walk despondently toward heaven’s gates, we ride the chariot of faith radiant in the triumphant procession of oneness with Christ. We don’t walk toward heaven’s gates hoping that at least some of our time we are triumphant in Christ, the Word says God “always” leads us in triumph in Christ! We walk toward heaven’s gates because we willfully chained ourselves to Christ, responding to the unfathomable love of the Victor!

George Matheson wrote the text to the hymn, “O Love That Will Not Let Me God.” Those four verses say: “O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.

O Light that follows all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee; my heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine’s blaze, its day may brighter, fairer be.

O joy that seeks me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace this rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that many shall tearless be.

O grace that lifts up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee; I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.”

By J. FARRELL FISHER, APRIL 10, 2017

In Proverbs 25:25 we read, “As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.” I clearly understand that, because for 25-30 years I traveled 3-6 months a year, 3 weeks to 3 months at a time, equipping, encouraging, and, I pray, inspiring pastors in their ministries, plus proclaiming the Gospel in crusades and youth ministries, and at times I needed the cold water for a weary soul.

There are times when disciples of Christ become “weary souls”, but, thank God, for the encouragers rather than the “bad news bears”! In Genesis 27:46, Rebecca said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

At the same time some become wearied, yes, even from “bad, sad, maddening news”, but they are those who understand that the “good news” CAN overcome bad circumstances and events and, for others, it’s “news” that totally disheartens them, good news or bad news. But in fact, in Galatians 6:9, Paul wrote: “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” In life’s journeys, some lose heart because they major on “bad news” rather than the “good News” of God’s grace, mercy, and love!

In Genesis 24:27 “the man” said: “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” How interesting do you personally find that! “As for me, being in the way, the Lord led me…”? Dare I say to you in beginning, “To not be in the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Christ, is to be traveling on the highway of “bad news”, yet, at the same time, some have committed to the True Way of “good news” yet willfully wander or are deceived by “the powers of darkness” and choose “rough roads” rather than the “Welcome Highway” of goodness, graciousness, and gentleness of Spirit, even satisfied, at times, to ‘taste’ the “bad news” from their “fleshly choices”!

Be assured! Holy God does not Author the “bad News” of one’s life unless that person lives with “my way” to the point he/she doesn’t care for God’s “Amazing Grace” because he/she is wedded to “what I want, not what God declares AND demands”! How many do you know who favor their own ‘religious conceit’ to the divine will of God?

“Bad News” is consistency and devotion to one’s fallen sin nature, to the “stubborn will” of what one desires and not what God commands, to the ‘false peace’ of the godless, world-citizens, who write and observe their own constitutions, void of the will of God!

There are fleshly, devilish, worldly wedges called ‘self-pride, self-will, or self-justification and approval’ of “Who I am and what I desire apart from anything your God demands,” so they willfully choose the “bad news” of “My way – I do it my way – not what your God expects!” “Bad News”? “I’m deeply in love with my natural virtues and passionate about the ways of my godless world!” “There’s nothing evil about my ‘evil thoughts’, just a little bit of the beastly and lots of the demonic that makes my godless life fun, pleasurable, and enjoyable – you Christians ought to try it sometime!” I don’t know how some see it and say it without shame, but they do: “Most of humanity spends its best hours choosing between evils that are rampant all around them – jump in, have fun,” not knowing that’s a leap into the pit of Hell with the devil’s crowd!

“Bad News”? When you turn to the Book of Revelation, in Revelation 2, the heading of my New King James Version of the Bible, entitles Revelation 2:18 and following as “The Corrupt Church”. Certainly it fitted Thyatira, but it also can be an inspired Word of conviction for any compromising church, group of Christians, or even one professing disciple of Christ! Hear it!

Revelation 2:18-29 are words from the angelic messenger over Thyatira, And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: “These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. ‘I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. NEVERTHELESS I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.

Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who ‘commit adultery’ with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

Now to you I say, and to the rest in (Thyatira), as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations – ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ – as I have also received from My Father, and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says TO THE CHURCHES.”

“Bad News”? My dear friend, fellow classmate and football teammate at Baylor University, from 1956-1958, seminary classmate at Southwestern Seminary also, sent me a message about 8 years ago that was Vance Havner’s sentence about the ‘average Baptist church’ that I feel now is the right time to share it with you! Havner said: “If an airplane had as many useless parts as the average Baptist church, it’d fly about as fast as a canary with a sack of wheat tied to its tail!” But dare I say it? ‘Useless parts of any church today across the USA defined with a tied tail trying to fly that bag of wheat’?

“Bad News”? THERE IS LITTLE PROCLAMATION OF “EXCEPT YOU REPENT, YOU WILL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH!” In fact, most in our modern day simply say, “Join our church – and everything will be OK!” What you see across, around, within most churches today is what Walter Chantry, in his book, “Today’s Gospel – Authentic Or Synthetic?”, wrote about: “in love for souls, true evangelicals invariably present some profound truths in their witnessing. Yet by THE UNCONSCIOUS OMMISSION OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS OF THE GOSPEL, many fail to communicate even that portion of God’s Word which they meant to convey. When a half truth is presented as the whole truth, it becomes an untruth.”

“REPENT!” Really? Is that in a church’s ‘salvation’ presentation? “FORSAKE!” Really? Isaiah 55:7-9 clearly says, God Himself speaking, proclaiming, informing: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; LET HIM RETURN TO THE LORD, and He (the Lord Himself) will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, now are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heaven are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” AND THE FLESHLY PROUD UNBELIEVER SHAKES HIS FIST AGAINST HOLY GOD, AND TURNS TO HIS SINFUL WORLD TO SATISFY HIS ‘FLESH’ OR OLD, ADAMIC SIN-NATURE! And the fleshly sinner turns away from Holy God’s merciful invitation, trying to be ‘happy’ in himself rather than knowing “the Joy of the Lord”!

It was H.W.Webb-Peploe, in Kurt Bruner’s “Inklings of God”, (p.21) who said, “Joy is not gush; joy is not jolliness. Joy is perfect acquiescence in God’s will because the soul delights itself in God Himself.” Bruner closed out his book, saying, (p.193), “Every religion reminds me that I am made for more. Every religion reaches for God. Every religion offers to make the wrong right again. But only one religion, Christianity, is honest enough to tell me that I can’t solve my own problem. I can’t obey enough rules, offer enough sacrifices, or become enlightened enough to rise above the wretchedness around and within me. All I can do is humbly accept the redemption offered by the One who made me for more and who heroically sacrificed Himself on my behalf. It’s like the preacher told me when I was seven. I am a sinner who needs to be saved.”

Life without the Redeemer, the Atoner, the Savior and Lord, is a life like a bronze statue but void of God’s eternal Presence in and through Christ Jesus. Because to come to Him is to confess: “Without His Resurrection Life and Presence within me, I have no hope, no peace, no eternal purpose – I just ‘counterfeit’ what I have determined is my purpose and my chosen intent!” And Bruner, later in his book, used powerful, convicting words: (p94), “…air out of the illusion of adult omniscience.” And the problem with most of the unregenerate world? Daniel 5 tells us about “Belshazzar’s feast”, and Verses 3-4, unveils, not only an idolatrous worship then but unfolds what, I believe, the Spirit of God sees today in a lot of churches! “Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.”

Dare I tell you that that ‘religious observance’, like much across the religious world today, is like ‘another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority’ – Revelation 18:1, and the earth (the present religious systems!) is now or will be soon “illuminated with his glory.” And he cried mightily: Verses 3-8, “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and GOD HAS REMEMBERED HER INIQUITIES! [But today? Most in ‘churchianity’ profess “Glad our sins have been forgiven and that the loving God understands we can’t do anything but sin until we get to Heaven!”] HOW PHONY IS THAT, even to the words of Jesus: “Go, and sin no more!” (John 8:10-12!).

Three things out of John 8:10-12! 1. “Sin no more” because Christ Jesus says so! 2. “Sin no more” because of what sin does! 3. “Sin no more” because “sin” promotes “fleshliness” of the old sin nature that Christ took to the Cross – Christ Jesus gives, after repentance toward God and faith in His finished work at the Cross the “new life” of liberty and freedom from sin and the sin-nature bondage with His Presence within to be released as with Paul we “take the sentence of death to ourselves that His Resurrected Life will be manifested in our mortal flesh”!

False ‘religious hopes’ and ‘carnal mind-twisting of the Scriptures’, vague resemblances, cheap imitation, fleshly, fallible persuasions, a “give your best” mandate substituting what Christ did at the Cross for what one sees him/her capable of doing in one’s outer countenance and personal determination, puts many on ‘dirt roads’ rather than the Christ-constructed “Highway of Holiness”! And this ‘spirit’, this attitude, this fleshly-minded determination , may be why God inspired through Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6, to write: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves – that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified, [Paul and the co-laborers traveling with him!].

Hear me! There are blessed assurances in the Word to the true believer who “leans not (even) to his own understanding, but in all his/her ways they acknowledge their “only hope” is Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and moment by moment abiding with the true “born-again believer”, saying, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.” Glory!

Paul said in Galatians 1:15-16, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and CALLED ME THROUGH HIS GRACE, to reveal His Son in me…,” with John saying in 1 John 3:24, “Now he who keeps His (Christ’s) commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

We know! Do you? Serious assurance and confidence flows out of the child of the King because they repent, they rest in His Resurrection presence with them, in them, through them, no longer ‘self-deceived hypocrites’, but living daily, yes, even moment by moment, “Lord, what do You desire to do in me and through me – I’m Yours?” And YOU KNOW you’ve been drawn to Him because YOU KNOW that you were born again, not of the will of men, but of God!” (John 1:13). Do you understand Ezekial 36:25-27, AND receive it? The Lord God speaks! “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean (real water or the water of the Word?); I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Glory! A walk of grace, of divine favor, of the supernatural power of the Spirit of God!

I close with a writing I assume, by Max Lucado in his book, “In The Grace of God”, (Copyright, 1996 by Max Lucado, W Publishing Group, A division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. www. Thomas Nelson. Com). It’s entitled “What a God!” (p.55):

“Ponder the achievement of God.

He doesn’t condone our sin, nor does He compromise His standard.

He doesn’t ignore our rebellion, nor does He relax His demands.

Rather than dismiss our sin, He assumes our sin and, incredibly, sentences Himself.

God’s holiness is honored. Our sin is punished… and we are redeemed.

God does what we cannot do so we can be what we dare not dream: perfect before God.”

DO YOU UNDERSTAND? GOD’S GRACE IS GREATER THAN ALL OUR SIN!

William Hunter and J.H. Stockton wrote the old hymn, “The Great Physician”. It’s found in the Broadman Hymnal of Broadman Press, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus; He speaks the drooping heart to cheer, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.

Your many sins are all forgiven, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus; Go on your way in peace to heaven, And wear a crown with Jesus.

All glory to the dying Lamb! I now believe in Jesus; I love the blessed Savior’s name, I love the name of Jesus.

Sweetest note in seraph song, Sweetest name on mortal tongue; Sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus, blessed Jesus.” AMEN?

By J.Farrell Fisher, December 26, 2016

August 6, 2016

In Hebrews 10:11-14 the author of Hebrews gives us an amazing unveiling of the awesome, unreserved release and availability of God’s omnipotent power to change hearts, birth eternal ministries, and equip “perfected saints”! It says: “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

BUT this Man (the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, “God in Flesh”), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins FOREVER, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. FOR by one offering HE HAS PERFECTED FOREVER THOSE WHO ARE BEING SANCTIFIED.”

And “the sanctified”, those “set apart” by the grace and mercy of God, have been “perfected forever” for the very purpose of extending Christ’s life, expressing His love, and proving His power, through you and me? Absolutely! The Holy Word declares it! God’s eternal desire is that He, Christ Jesus, be glorified THROUGH YOU as a true believer!

What does Ephesians 2:4-10 tell us? “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together with Christ, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

It’s so interesting to me that when I read Revelation 3:7-8 Jesus clearly says, “These things says He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts, and no one opens.’ I know your works. (SO!) See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have Not Denied My Name.” There IS an open door to Jesus!

But then in Revelation 3:19-22 the Lord Jesus declared: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. BEHOLD, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” [And don’t you find this amazing that Jesus was speaking to those “in the church at Laodecia”?] THEREFORE, HOW EASY FOR UNBELIEVERS TO SHUT THE DOOR ON JESUS, BUT HOW HORRIFIC WHEN “professing Christians and churches” shut the door on Jesus?!?

And I remind you again of Jesus describing ‘believers’ as: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” [Ephesians 2:10!].

Repentant men of faith and trust in the work of Christ at the Cross accept their crucifixion with Him and receive with passion, joy, and celebration His forgiveness, His acceptance of us, and His desire to make each of us His earthly temple and dwelling, not a destroyed memory of a building in Israel, but temples of holy dwellings in the hearts of men in every nation of the world!

Notice, FIRST, what Ephesians 1:3 tells us of GOD’S GOODNESS, “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…!” And what amazes me is Ephesians 1:4 tells me, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,” and that with an eternal purpose: “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” And that’s ALL because of the shed blood of Christ for us and because of our ‘redemptive faith’ in (Ephesians 1:5-6), “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”

That’s because of God’s goodness, His graciousness, and His sovereign will, which leads us to:

SECOND, GOD’S Gracious Birthing OF Redemption Through Jesus’ Blood, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE, which Ephesians 1:7-8 declares “which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” Notice!

It’s only “divine wisdom” that reveals the sin nature, your sin nature and mine, was crucified with Christ, that the open door to His presence and purpose, was then fully revealed as the blood of Christ bought us out of slavery to sin, granted us forgiveness from the guilt of our sin, made us accepted In Christ, with Ephesians 1:12 telling us, “that we who first trusted in Christ SHOULD BE TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY”!

Colossians 1:13-14 declares: “He (God) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Are you aware of what Hebrews 10:12-14 unveils to true repentant believers? “But this Man, after He had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOREVER, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. FOR BY ONE OFFERING He (the Lord Jesus Christ!) has PERFECTED FOREVER THOSE WHO ARE BEING SANCTIFIED.” Sanctified? That’s “set apart”, repentant believers then, now, and future, who Repent For the Forgiveness of Sins, are washed in the blood of the Lamb, indwelt by Resurrection Presence, anointed in the power of the Indwelling Holy Spirit, and become “witnesses”, “ambassadors”, “evangelists”, who proclaim the “goodness of God” for His children of faith and hope in Christ alone!

1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – Verse 31, that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” Having forgiveness through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, we realize, rest in, and rejoice, in the reality that our blood-bought faith has opened the door to us of faithfully participating, now and forever, in all God is!

I receive with joy and gladness Oswald Chambers’ words in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.255), where he said: “We have forgiveness through His (Christ Jesus’) blood. Identification with the death of Jesus Christ means identification with Him to the death of everything that never was in Him…God is justified in saving bad men only as He makes them good. Out Lord does not pretend that we are all right when we are all wrong. The Atonement is a propitiation whereby God through the death of Jesus makes an unholy man holy.”

THIRD, IN GOD’S WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING, OF BRINGING ABOUT WORLD REDEMPTION AFTER THE “FALL”, DID HE CONCEDE TO A MAN’S ‘BEST EFFORT’ AS A PARTICIPANT IN WORLD REDEMPTION, OR THE NECESSITY OF “NEW VESSELS”? Remember, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” (Romans 6:23). “Fallen flesh” never reveals the nature, character, true vision of Holy God, but only ‘man’ defining ‘self’, ‘sinful self’, as a ‘worthy vessel’ even God should use! No!

Romans 6:5-11 unveils fallen humanity’s “old man, old nature, old identity as a slave TO SIN”, but then reveals “Victory In Jesus”! It says: “For if we have been united in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, THAT WE SHOULD NO LONGER BE SLAVES OF SIN. For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Now IF WE DIED WITH CHRIST, we believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to the fact) that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God IN Christ Jesus our Lord.” Far too many fail to understand the consequences of their sin and sin nature! That’s why Paul was inspired to say also in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God IS eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And if that is Biblically true, AND IT IS, does Jesus have to say the same thing to ‘modern-day’ Christians as He did to the “Sad-you-sees” (?) in Matthew 22:29, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

And then, in Mark 9:1, to a crowd of people plus His own disciples, Jesus said to them: “Assuredly, I say to you, that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” What a promise to them and to us!

Luke 4:13-14 there is a mind-boggling, heart-searching, disciple-questioning passage! It says: “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him (that’s Jesus!) until a (more) opportune time. Verse 14! Then Jesus returned in the POWER OF THE SPIRIT to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” And “the news of Him”, Spirit-filled, is STILL being spread through available “vessels” who RECEIVE the Spirit’s anointing!

In Acts 10:34-38 we read about “Spirit-Anointed Peter” speaking Holy Truth! “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. BUT IN EVERY NATION whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Christ Jesus – He is Lord of all – that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how GOD ANOINTED JESUS OF NAZARETH WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WITH POWER, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

Oh, but then look at the awesome extension of the Holy Spirit’s ministry beyond Peter and the early church even to today and beyond! It says in Acts 10:44-45, While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, BECAUSE the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”

It’s really interesting as you study Isaiah 40 that you see in Verse 7 about “the breath of the Lord” (Do you believe that breath might be the Holy Spirit?) blows upon it; surely the people are grass. Verse 8, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” And the Word of God, the Living Word, IS “Christ in you the hope of glory”, men and women re-born and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Spirit to be the Lord’s “faithful witnesses” and “Royal Ambassadors” of Kingdom Living in and through Him and His Holy Spirit!

Do you remember what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:3-5? “I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, BUT IN DEMONSTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND OF POWER, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

The “Holy Temple” in Christ, in you, is built upon a strong and sure foundation, which is not only His Word, but His Spirit having His rightful place in you, over you, and around everything you are and everything you do! We’re not led by our “emotions” in the Christian walk but by the “emissions” or “emanating” of the Holy Spirit through your available life of faith and trust in Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit! Dare I tell you that Holy God desires to be and to do more through us, by His Spirit, than tragically, and often, we keep Him from doing?

In Revelation 12: 10-11 John HEARD the voice from Heaven! “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, AND THE POWER OF HIS CHRIST HAS COME, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. AND THEY OVERCAME HIM by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death!”

But, not only Old and New Testament histories, but ‘modern-day’ church “productions”, present to us many who “are at ease in Zion”, content as Pretenders rather than Converted and Transformed and Dwellings of His Resurrection presence!

In Isaiah 32:1 says, “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness…”, and if you didn’t know, that’s a prophetic utterance of the reign of King Jesus in the repentant, redeemed, regenerated, restored hearts of men to God’s eternal intent! And it then boldly described “lands” with thorns and briers, forsaken ‘temples’ or palaces, cities ‘of faith’ even ‘deserted’, but Verse 15 is filled with divine assurance and eternal confidence as Jesus states: UNTIL THE SPIRIT, (the Holy Spirit!) IS POURED UPON US FROM ON HIGH, when ‘the wilderness’ of a fleshly believer becomes a “fruitful field” through Spirit-anointing!

Dare I tell you that to live a victorious, overcoming, Christ-unveiling, Christ-revealing life is not by your “best-efforts” but by a “vessel’ anointed and overflowing in the fullness and fruit and eternal force of the very Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who “girts” us, “anoints” us, “empowers” us, and, according to 1 John 5:6b, “… And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” And far too many “professing believers” never become “confessing believers” to others because there is no surrender to be led by Holy Spirit leadership – too many feel they can handle their own ministries, which sadly never occurs – they never become “voices” in life’s wildernesses because, if they ‘witness’, it’s usually about their own spiritual prominence rather than the importance of “repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ in and through Calvary’s Cross and the empty tomb”!

I’m an ‘old hymn’ kind of guy – repeated ‘choruses’, far too often in modern-day churches, leave preparation for preaching on “shallow ground”! But a hymn, like “Thou, Whose Almighty Word”, written by John Marriott and W.R. Braine, in the old “The American Hymnal,” [ Compiled and edited by Robert H. Coleman, the Broadman Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1933], says:

“Thou, (or You) whose almighty word Chaos and darkness heard, And took their flight, Hear us, we humbly pray; And where the gospel’s day Sheds not its glorious ray, LET THERE BE LIGHT!

Spirit of truth and love, Life-giving, Holy Dove, Speed forth Your flight: Move over the water’s face, Bearing the lamp of grace; And, in earth’s darkest place, LET THERE BE LIGHT!

Blessed and Holy Three, Glorious Trinity, Truth, Love and Might! Boundless as ocean’s tide, Rolling in fullest pride, Through the world, far and wide, LET THERE BE LIGHT!” How about “Light IN YOU the hope of glory”?

“I NEVER KNEW YOU!”

SIGNED: “GOD”

In reading the Psalms recently, I read a Scripture that heightened the ‘holy fear of God’ in my heart. It was Psalm 31:1 when David wrote: “In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge; let me NEVER be put to shame or (have my hope in You) disappointed; deliver me in Your righteousness!”

In Verse 4 David prayed: “Draw me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me; for You are my strength and my stronghold.”

If David found himself in “the net”, a “net that they have laid secretly for me,” with certainty it was his fleshly enemies, though religious, who wanted to bring the king down!

Are you aware that there are ‘enemies’ who want to bring King Jesus down even today? And there are ‘enemies’ who want to bring you down even this very moment!

Sadly, there are false accusers who desire to bring down anything or anyone whose attitude and aim of life is to give glory to God as they ‘walk out the Faith’ in the midst of a troubled, disturbed, and disbelieving world, yes, even a religious world that consents to anything opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Remember, it was “the scribes and Pharisees” and even religious priests of Jesus’ day who nailed Him to the Cross – and even today there are religious people in church somewhere every Sunday, used by Satan, to falsely accuse you, seeking to defame you, discourage you, discolor the whiteness of your reputation as a true follower of Christ and servant of God, never understanding that their false accusations, mouthed by their own bitterness and anger, exposes to whom they belong – and the defamers aren’t someone owned by Christ Jesus!

Are you aware of the reality of abuse that “the humble and oppressed” face in their journeys? And are you aware that the “wicked condemn, spurn, renounce and divorce themselves” from God Himself? If they accuse God, you then are not a target of His enemies? Please hear me! YOU are a target of Hell itself and Hell’s manifestations through lives NOT FILLED with the Spirit, nature, and character of Christ!

Pumped up, arrogant flesh, is an academy award winner right out of Hell itself, manifested in bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, manifested by false accusations, making ‘darkness’ out of light, feeding others (uneatable pies) out of the rotten fruit of a pumped-up self- importance, and in their hearts and minds their seeds of wickedness sprout in anger, bitterness, and resentment, with festering sores which wilts any true spiritual wisdom and reflection of the character of Christ who even on the Cross said, “Father, forgive them.”

When Christ Jesus went to the Cross, He took us all with Him, putting to death the “old man”, the “man of sin,” the “man of a vile nature and character,” the “man of bitterness and resentments and unforgiveness”, yes, crucified with Christ. But if that’s true, and it definitely is, how does a ‘professing believer’ still act like the devil himself?

If a man chooses unforgiveness, what does he receive? If a man chooses bitterness, what is his fruit? If a man is dominated by anger and resentment, what will he receive from God as he stands before the Throne in his moment, day, and time there?

I want you to read carefully James 3:6-16 before we continue on! This is vital, yes, relating to your eternal existence! And I’m using here, and elsewhere in this message, the Amplified Bible!

“And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth – the cycle of man’s nature – being ignited itself by hell [Gehenna].

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius (nature).

But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is (an undisciplined, irreconcilable) restless evil, full of death-bringing poison.

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness!

Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.

Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water.

Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his [good] works with the (unobtrusive) humility [which is the proper attire] of true wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry, selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth.

This [superficial] wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demonical),

For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition) there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices.”

And unless one receives the Truth, acknowledges his selfish guilt and envy, responds repentantly before Holy God of his rivalry spirit and selfish ambition, defies the Truth and is false TO the Truth and won’t repent, then he is bound by an earthly, fleshly, demonic spirit, and while calling out to Jesus will bust Hell’s doors wide open, enslaved to those devilish demons and the spirits of men overcome by anger, hatred, and fleshly bitterness, not even knowing the fruit of the Spirit they profess to possess!

The Amplified Bible, in Proverbs 16:5 says, “Every one proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord; be assured – I pledge it – he will not go unpunished.”

GOD SAYS: “I never knew you!” Let’s examine choices men make that shuts God out and away from them:

FIRST, ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FALSE GODS MEN CREATE TO BOW BEFORE PROFESSING ALLEGIANCE TO THEM BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE RELIGIOUS ON THEIR OWN TERMS!

In Amos 8:13-14 we read: [“The Message” Bible by Eugene H. Patterson, Nav Press, Colorado Springs, co. 80935], “On Judgment Day, lovely young girls will faint of WORD-THIRST, robust young men will faint of GOD-THIRST,

Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center, saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’ and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-Sheba bless you!’ Their lives will fall to pieces, they’ll never put it together again.”

Idol worshippers! Allegiance to man-made idols, whether religious, fleshly, sinful, or demonic. Literal idols that men bow before all over the world and never hear a word, never sense a touch, never receive an anointing, never entertain angels but have the full support of demonic powers.

In Acts 19: 23-28 we hear from the “loud mouths and lost minds” of those getting rich off making idols! Listen to their explanation:

But as time went on there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way [of the Lord Jesus].

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of (the goddess) Artemis (not Diana), brought no small income to his craftsmen.

These he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, Men, you are acquainted with the facts and understand that [Are YOU ready?] from this business we derive our wealth and livelihood.

Now you notice and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost all over [the province of] Asia this Paul has persuaded and induced people to believe his teaching and has alienated a considerable company of them, saying that gods that are made with human hands are not really gods at all.

Now there is danger not merely that this trade of ours may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemas may come into disrepute and count for nothing, and that her glorious magnificence may be degraded and fall into contempt, she whom all Asia and the wide world worship.

As they listened to this they were filled with rage, and they continued to shout, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Oh, but hear me: Idolatry is more than the worship of man-made, devil-inspired stones to worship before and bow down to! In 1 Corinthians 10:14 Paul pled with the Corinthian church and our church-world today, saying, [Amplified]

“Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun – keep away from, avoid by flight if need be – any sort of idolatry (of loving or venerating anything more than God).”

Did you hear that with your spiritual eyes and ears? “Keep away from – avoid – any sort of idolatry”! In “The Art of Worldly Wisdom, XXVI”, Baltasar Gracian Y Morales wrote: “All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.”

Oh, but then you read 1 Samuel 15:23 and the Word tells us: [Amplified Bible]“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”

It was Martin Luther in “Table Talk” who said: “We easily fall into idolatry, for we are inclined thereunto by nature, and coming to us by inheritance, it seems pleasant.”

The Amplified Bible in Colossians 3:5-6 translates Paul’s words as follows: “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members – those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin; sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, FOR THAT IS IDOLATRY [the deifying of self and other things instead of God…]

It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will) the sons of disobedience.”

Did you receive that ? A son, a daughter of disobedience is the same as an idol! An idolater is one obstinately opposed to the divine will (the sons of disobedience)!

And Paul gives us all a warning in 2 Corinthians 6:16 when he said: “What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them [that’s the church!] and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Paul was concerned about God’s people choosing to worship idols? Is it any different today than it was in Paul’s day?

SECOND, HOW GUILTY DO YOU BELIEVE GOVERNMENTS ARE WHEN MEN SUBVERT THE RULE OF GOD IN GOVERNMENT AND ENTHRONE THEMSELVES, YES, TO RUTHLESSLY AND SELFISHLY AND DECEPTIVELY RULE OVER THE PEOPLE?

Psalm 67 is one of the most informative passages about God’s rule in government you’ll not find in most national governments’ constitutions. It says: [Amplified Bible]

“God be merciful and gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us and among us, SELAH [pause, and calmly think of that]! That Your way may be known upon earth, Your saving power [Your deliverances and Your salvation], among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples fairly, and guide, lead or drive the nations upon earth. SELAH [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Let the peoples praise You, [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You. The earth has yielded its harvest [in evidence of God’s approval]; God, even our own God will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall reverently fear Him.”

And, if you happened not to hear it in your heart or overlooked or just didn’t understand it, let me highlight it for you! Judgment comes upon the nations! People who are truly praising the Lord are turning away from their idols! Holy God WILL guide, lead, or drive the nations upon the earth!

Question: Are there godless governments in churches or are some churches infiltrated by godless people intent on shaping ‘our church’ to ‘our way of thinking’?

1 Peter 4:17-18 tells us, “For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God? And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and the wicked?”

Proverbs 11:30-31 is both encouraging and frightening! It says: “The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives for God [as a fisher of men] – he gathers and receives them for eternity. Behold, the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be recompensed on earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner! [And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and wicked?”]

Have you followed through with studying 2 Peter? If you did, you had ‘Hell’ scared right out of you if you lingered because Peter was inspired by Holy God to write 2 Peter 2:1-10! It says,

“But []in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines – destructive heresies – even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed. And in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with (cunning) false arguments. From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.

For God [even] spared not angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment and their doom. And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world on ungodly [people].

And He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes []and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly. [Genesis 19:24].

And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless. [Genesis 19:16,29]. For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard on [their] unlawful and wicked deeds.

NOW if [all these things be true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom; And particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion, and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous and daring – self-willed and self-loving [creatures]! They scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling.”

But can I tell you? There’s coming a day when the ungodly will want to shake themselves out of this world that belongs to Holy God, unaware they’ve shaken themselves into Hell itself!

THIRD, AND LAST, ARE YOU AWARE OF WHERE ‘FLESHLY’ PRETENSE LEADS THE ACTUAL ‘SELF-PROMOTERS’? ARE YOU READY TO BE CONFRONTED BY HOLY TRUTH? In Matthew 7:15-29 we read, [bear with me!], 14 Verses!

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves. [Have you ever encountered them?].

You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit – worthy of admiration; but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad and worthless fruit.

A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit; nor can a bad diseased tree bear excellent fruit – worthy of admiration. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore you will fully know them by their fruits.

Not everyone who says to Me [that’s Jesus!], Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many mighty works in Your name?

And then I will say to them openly (publicly) I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly – disregarding My commands [Psalm 6:8]. So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them – obeying them – will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock;

And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand; And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great and complete was the fall of it.

When Jesus had finished these sayings [the Sermon on the Mount], the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching. For He was teaching as [One] who had [and was] authority, and not as did the scribes.”

I’ve pastored in Florida, Alabama, Arizona, and Texas. And that was over a period of about 50 years. So the true story I’m about to share, you’ll not know where this story occurred, true, sad, and so convicting.

A man I know had a personal friend who was running for public office – and for certain this man was sure, confident, and at peace in giving his close friend full support.

But the man had a neighbor a few blocks away who had decided to run for the same office, and so he went to the neighbor, asking for his support.

The central man of the story told the neighbor, “I wish I could, but one of my long-time best friends is running, and I’ve committed my support to him.” The neighbor was incensed and marked the central man voting for his friend as the neighbor’s number one enemy. He became so embittered, and from that day forward lived with a grudge, a resentment, a tactic of nothing good to say about the man who voted for his friend rather than this neighbor.

Dare I tell you the embittered neighbor is an active church-goer? He professes Christ Jesus but lives in a state of unforgiveness and bitterness!

What did Jesus say in Matthew 7:23? “Ant then I will say to them openly (publicly) I NEVER KNEW YOU; depart from Me, you who act wickedly – disregarding My commands.”

Receive our Lord’s words in Mark 11:25-26! “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, FORGIVE HIM AND LET IT DROP – leave it, let it go – in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop.” But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.”

I was 37-38 years of age, I believe, when I knew I had serious business to take care of if I wanted God’s blessing on my life, my wife, my children. I was the product of a broken home. At three years of age my parents divorced, and I was taken by my mother to the home of her parents who cared for me for about 9-10 years. Then my mother remarried, and I was taken to live with her and her new husband.

In all my years of life my father was never in my home with me, Sue, and his grandkids. One time, my senior year in high school, playing against Knoxville Central High School in Knoxville, I tackled their single-wing tailback, 230 pounds he weighed, hitting him at his knee level, knocked unconscious in the early second quarter, transferred to the Catholic Hospital in Knoxville, parents and family unsure that I might live through the night.

When I awoke at 4:30 in the morning, all of my family was standing at the door of my hospital room, including my Dad and his second wife. I lived – and I played the next Friday night against Notre Dame High of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Beyond that, if I desired to see my Dad, which I did, I would ride a bus from Cleveland, Tennessee, to his office in Athens, Tennessee, where I was born. He never ever came to my home. At the 37-38 years stage of life, wanting God’s full and fresh blessing, God said, “Go, and forgive your mother and father now!” Which I did! And as a result, received “the peace of God that passes all understanding.”

It’s time – forgive, free yourself, and walk in His fullness and eternal blessing! Examine Ephesians 1:7-12, [NKJV Edition, Holman Bible Edition], “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”

Question! Are YOU living to the praise of His glory and honor? Do YOU walk in forgiveness to those who wounded YOU? Is your song “Mercy and Grace” or is it the song of unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, even with flashes of hatred? In 2 Corinthians 7:10 we read, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

In your journey through life, what is truly your spiritual desire? A disease or the fruit of the blessing of the Indwelling Christ who forgives by His shed blood? A man who walks in the spirit of unforgiveness WILL NOT KNOW our Lord’s blessing apart from exchanging their bitterness for His forgiveness, even seeking sincere relationships not closed doors, because we were reconciled to Christ through His Cross, and true reconciliation is not only with Christ but a true relationship with those who ‘hurt, offended, or slighted us’!

If you’ve “entered the Kingdom of God”, why not act like it? 1 John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Have YOU entered the Kingdom of God? Are you living and demonstrating and validating the Truth of His Indwelling Life?

It was Gladden and Smith who wrote the old Hymn, “O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee.” It says: “O Master, let me walk with Thee, In lowly paths of service free; Tell me Your secret, help me bear The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Help me the slow of heart to move By some clear, winning word of love; Teach me the wayward feet to stay, And guide them in the homeward way.

Teach me Your patience! Still with You In closer, dearer company, In work that keeps faith sweet and strong, In trust that triumphs over wrong. In hope that sends a shining ray Far down the future’s broadening way, In peace that only You can give, With You, O Master, let me live.” Does He “know YOU” or not?

CHAPTER TWO

VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED

Are you aware of a ‘religious faith’ birthed in one’s mind on the basis of one’s distinct, self-actualizing moral efforts, or the ‘True Faith’ birthed, built, based and blessed on God’s initiative, inspiration, and divine insight?

Is there a religious spirit apart from the Holy Spirit that invents requirements apart from God’s revelation, unveiling, promise, and verification of divine life only through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have you ever witnessed a mass religiosity so opposite to ‘repentance toward God and true faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross’? “Vital Awareness Unveiled”?

Religious convictions or Divine Truth? Devotion to a church’s constitution or devotion to Christ’s Resurrected, Reigning Indwelling Life? Devotion to what an ‘intellectual’ professor says or devotion to who Christ Jesus is? Devotion to a world’s united, unbiblical teachings that there is more than one way to God, including every religion manufactured by men’s deceived hearts, or holy revelation of the vital awareness unveiled of God’s only “one way”? Is it man’s ‘religious foundation’ offered by ‘the best’ in intellectual superiority or God’s best and blessed in the awesome Truth of who Christ Jesus is and what He did on Calvary’s Cross over 2000 years ago, and, in fact, birthed in the heart of Holy God before our world was ever created?!?

Is vital awareness unveiled by the ‘Apostates’ Creed’ or the “Apostles’ Revelation” unveiled by the sold-out disciples who all died for the Eternal Truth? [And maybe even a bigger question today: “Are you a true disciple ready to die for the only Way of true salvation – the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and soon-coming of Christ Jesus?”] Is it vital unawareness unveiled by social experiments rather than the true declaration of the Holy Word concerning Christ, or the vital awareness unveiled by the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross?

An ‘Apostates’ Creed’ is all in for self-awareness, self-individuality, self-honoring, while the “Apostles’ Creed” is the affirming, relying upon, declaration, and submission to Christ’s Lordship and His “victory” in and through His sacrificial death on the Cross, releasing men from the penalty of their sin and their surrender to His “Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope”!

In fact, in Matthew 16:24-26, Jesus declared, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” That’s the true words of the Lord Jesus!

Do you realize that one substituting his individuality in seeking to be reconciled to Holy God is “banking” on God believing our self-efforts are eternally rewarding, and God should be thankful to have us on His side? But, God says, Matthew 16:24, “If ANYONE desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

I was awe-struck when I read Dietrich Bonhoffer’s statement: [Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxes, p.138], “The church has only one altar, the altar of the Almighty…before which all creatures must kneel. Whoever seeks something other than this must keep away; he cannot join us in the house of God…The church has only one pulpit, and from that pulpit, faith in God will be preached, and no other faith, and no other will than the will of God, however well-intentioned.”

What was true in the very day of Christ Jesus is true even today! In John 6:66-68 we read, From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And there are those who “do go away”, captured in mind and spirit, because, for them, “the way of the Cross” does not lead home to safety, convenience, or acceptance by a sadly, Godless world, enslaving themselves to their religious bondage so opposite to the true freedom in Christ Jesus!

The sad truth of a ‘fallen world’, so expressive of ‘fallen man’, alienated and separated from Holy God, is that “the blood of Jesus Christ” shed on the Cross was totally unnecessary because their ‘sin’ and ‘sin nature’ was not that serious that a wise, understanding, sympathetic God, should, would, could, and did shed the literal blood of His own ‘assumed’ Son. The lost, alienated, unbelieving world says, “The ‘fleshly god’ of one’s own natural life is enough to deliver himself, even if one hears of a “greater salvation”, because there is nothing better in man than his own self-deification, self-strength, and self-ability to overcome any minor or major spiritual short-coming – who needs Jesus?” You’ve heard it!

But a greater, sadder truth? Just like the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day who rejected Him and crucified Him, those in this modern day who do the same thing, Jesus says, John 7:33-34, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” Are you a believer or an unbeliever, a receiver or a rejecter, an independent, foolish man or truly a wise man of redemptive, life-changing faith?

“Vital Awareness Unveiled?” Hear the words of Jesus Christ in John 14:6! “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

FIRST, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS CHRIST JESUS, THE ONLY WAY FALLEN MEN ARE RECONCILED TO HOLY GOD! What did Jesus Himself say? “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And, if Christ Jesus declares, “I AM THE WAY,” then what is taking place in the minds and hearts of unbelievers? It’s total, complete, destructive deception, breeding ‘death’ for one’s eternal reward!

In Psalm 36:1-4, David wrote about the wickedness of a sinful man! “An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE HIS EYES. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself IN A WAY THAT IS NOT GOOD; he does not abhor evil.”

And that takes place, without shame, before the Lord’s mercy, in spite of God’s faithfulness in working out his redemption, and his bed, at nighttime, is where he thinks out his wickedness, and ends up doing what? “He sets himself in a way that is not good!” No doubt this is why the author of Proverbs was inspired to write in Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, BUT he who heeds counsel is wise.” And those who are spiritually unwise, in Proverbs 13:15, God declares, “the way of the unfaithful is hard.” Just a chapter later, in Proverbs 14:12, Yes, Holy God declares through His servant, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Oh, but then in Psalms 18:28-30 King David was so inspired to write, “For You will light my lamp; the Lord will enlighten [illumine] my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Isn’t there an old hymn that says, “Trust and obey for there’s no other way?” In fact, in John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes TO the Father except through Me.” Wasn’t it Josh MacDowell who once said “Jesus? Liar, lunatic, or the Lord God?”

Aren’t you awed by God’s holy choices to serve Him in proclaiming Christ? Are you aware that Saul of Tarsus was an enemy of Christ Jesus, persecuting Him, imprisoning Him, and ready to slaughter Him, but Holy God had a different plan that even included God washing Saul of Tarsus in the blood of the Lamb and raised Paul the Apostle up to be one of His greatest witnesses!

In 1 Corinthians 15:9-20, [patience, please! Eleven verses! But eternal truth!], Paul wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Let me highlight an extremely valuable word for you in the tenth verse! “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain…!” That’s “bestowed grace – blessed victory!” Jesus raised you and me up out of spiritual death, instilled His Resurrection Life, planted our feet on the “Solid Rock,” and showed us “His Way”!

Do you remember the man meeting Rebekah as she drew water in Genesis 24:27, saying to her, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being in the way, the Lord led me…!” And “Christ Jesus, the only way fallen mankind is reconciled to Holy God? Yes! Ten thousand times, Yes! Jesus said, “I AM THE WAY!”

Are you aware of what King David said in Psalm 18:32? “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.” Follow in the Word! Proverbs 10:17 says, “He who keeps instruction is in the way of life!”

You are aware of a man’s choice of the ‘highway’ on which he chooses to walk. In Isaiah 35:8 we read, “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness,” with Verse 9 saying, “…the redeemed shall walk there,” as they ‘return to God,’ ‘coming with singing,’ and overflowing with “everlasting joy and gladness on their heads”!

Isaiah 59:8 speaks of “the way of peace” that most Israelites did not know, sadly! Are you aware of “the way to Zion”? Jeremiah 50:5, the Word of the Lord! It relates to the nation of Israel that lost its ‘way’ to God! But the holy prophet challenged them [and, yes, even the ‘church’ in America today!], “They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” Sadly, only a remnant then and a remnant now seeks the way of Zion, which is, by the way, the Way of His abiding presence!

I know it may not sit well with ‘broad-minded’ preachers, but according to Jesus Himself, He said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Are you aware of ‘the way of God in truth’? [Matthew 22:16]. Do you know “the way of escape”? [1 Corinthians 10:13]. How many do you know and relate to who walk “the more excellent way”? [1 Corinthians 10:31]. What about “the new and living way”? [Hebrews 10:20]. Oh, I tell you, “All the WAY our Lord desires to lead us!”

SECOND, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS ETERNAL TRUTH THAT IS ONLY, YES, THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF “CHRIST IN YOU” – ALL ELSE? HUMAN DECEPTION! What was it Paul said in Galatians 4:19? “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”

Do you receive what Paul wrote in Colossians 1:26 about “the mystery” that “has been revealed to His saints”? Then, Verses 27-28, reveals to us the absolute essential of “Vital Awareness Unveiled”! “To them God willed to make known are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory”? Vital awareness unveiled – in YOU? Aren’t you absolutely raised with joy and thanksgiving when you read 2 Corinthians 5:21? “For He [God Almighty, Lord over all!] made Him [Christ Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become [through Jesus only!] the righteousness of God in Him.”

I’m also awed when I read Hebrews 10:14 where Holy God inspired the author to share these words: “For by one offering He [God] has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” And the word ‘sanctified’ means “set apart”, yes, for His glory and honor and praise alone! By the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross, and that alone, one is reconciled to Holy God, indwelt with King Jesus, infilled with the Holy Spirit, and declared God’s finished work in us through His Son and our Savior and Lord!

We have nothing in and of ourselves to boast, but we can boast on the Christ in us who has set us apart unto Himself, and we glory in the Lord Jesus Christ! No ‘flesh’ glories in Christ’s resurrected presence, but the true born-again disciple of Christ glories in His Indwelling Presence! 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 tells us, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus who became FOR US wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” Are YOU glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ in your day by day journey?

THIRD, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS, NOT DEATH AND ITS WORTHLESS FRUIT, BUT ABUNDANT, EVERLASTING, ETERNAL LIFE, AND ITS ETERNAL, FRESH, NEVER-WILTING FRUIT OF CHRIST AND HIS SPIRIT! Did Jesus tell us in Matthew 12:33 that “a tree is known by its fruit”- understanding that there is no fruit of the flesh that honors Holy God, but only the fruit of the Spirit of God!

How familiar are you with Galatians 5:22-25? It says: “But the fruit [the fruit of God’s Spirit] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

The best of human flesh, regardless of its realms of performance, cannot, will not honor Holy God! The best efforts of human flesh never attain to even a small glimpse of the nature and character of Christ! God didn’t call us out for grand performances to look like Jesus, but He called us out to “rest” in Him! In Philippians 2:12-13 we read, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

And your ‘working out’ your own salvation, and that with fear and trembling’? It is turning to Holy God – it is not you ‘perfecting your ways’ – they were crucified with Christ when He died on the Cross two thousand years ago – God’s interest in you is your availability to Him and all He can do through you!

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 Paul testified for our understanding: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

It was Oswald Chambers who wrote the following in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest.” He said: [p.252], “When once you are rooted in Reality [that’s Divine Reality, Divine Presence in you!], nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith; but nothing can ever upset God or the almighty Reality of Redemption; base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God. When once you get into contact, personal contact, with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God puts His disapproval on human experience when we begin to adhere to the conception that sanctification is merely an experience, and forget that sanctification itself has to be sanctified. I have deliberately to give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.”

J.W. Van DeVenter and W.S. Weeden wrote the old hymn, “I Surrender All.” It says: “All to Jesus, I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow; Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Yours; Let me feels the Holy Spirit, – Truly know that You are mine.

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to You; Fill me with Your love and power, Let Your blessing fall on me.”

Can YOU surrender ALL to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, owned by His purchase of YOU through His shed blood? He’s calling YOU right now!

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, NOV.2-4, 2017

In John 16 the Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples for coming opposition AND His soon departure, the opposition even by religious leaders and many of the Jewish community opposed to Christ Himself and the “true seekers”; Verses 1-4, Jesus speaking, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Oh, but things were about to change! And Almighty God was sending the Holy Spirit because the Son’s ‘cross sacrifice’, His death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension would soon take place, and the Victorious Jesus would be seated at God’s right hand on the throne of Heaven and earth but with the promise, power, and participation of the Holy Spirit in the conviction of men’s heart, the convincing of their need of the Savior, their conversion, and guarding, guiding, and gifting the “new-born” sons and daughters of True, Eternal Faith “in Christ” for their earthly reigns, ministries, and extending of that Resurrection Life in Christ!

But for all true believers, that ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with “The Piercing Sword of Divine Conviction” – that’s God the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart, mind, and will in yielding to King Jesus!

Follow John 16:5-15! “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;

For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

As an ‘intro’ into the ministry of the Holy Spirit before I get to this message’s main emphasis, three things I want you to be aware of: 1) The Holy Spirit is our “faithful guide”, 2) The Holy Spirit grants us a full unveiling of Jesus (“He will glorify Me” in and through YOU!), 3) The Holy Spirit releases in all true, repentant, born-again believers “a forceful empowerment”!

And, “the forceful empowerment”? IT IS “THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION”! There are powerful verses in Revelation 1 when John unveiled His vision of the Son of Man! Examine carefully Verses 12-19! John wrote: Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,

“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”

Do you think that Christ Jesus was unveiling to John and us the continuing ministry of Christ through the Holy Spirit and His “eternal spiritual work” of the “piercing sword of divine conviction”? And, without a doubt, THAT is a vital ministry of the Holy Spirit! Jesus said, reminding you, of John 16:8-11, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me (So they keep on “sinning”!); of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged.”

I want you also to examine, reflect upon, and study Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6! He said: “knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. (Election? The Greek word is “eklogon” meaning God’s initiative, God’s selection, God’s choice, which He sovereignly has the right to do! And you know the “chosen” by the unveiling of Christ in them and through them!). For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”

SO, FIRST, LOOK AT THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION THAT IS AVAILABLE TO, YES, USHER IN DIVINE CONVERSION! Come to John 3 and receive Jesus’ words to Nicodemus and to us! John 3:1-8 says: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”

Jesus answered and said to Him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Has “the wind of God’s Spirit” blown upon your life, and have YOU been born again?).

‘Born of the Spirit’ is no reality apart from the deep conviction of sin and its birthing of the state of sinful death, alienated and separated from Holy God! No awareness of sin and the sin nature is evidence of a godless mind intent on enjoying “its” fruit apart from repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the cross.

What did we just read a brief time ago from 1 Thessalonians 1:5? “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance…”! Paul then said in Verse 6, “And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit…” There are those things, those attitudes, those outlooks in life that come, yes, from the world, the flesh, and from Satan himself, but ‘abiding joy’ in life comes only through the supernatural, new-birthing by the Spirit! We’re ‘born-again’ by the Spirit!

SECOND, WE EXAMINE THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THEN CONFESS, REPENT, TURN AWAY FROM THE PAST LIFE, AND REACH UP, INWARD, AND INTO ‘KINGDOM ALLEGIANCE’ AS EPHESIANS 2:18 TELLS US, “FOR THROUGH HIM WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER! The Holy Spirit, Paul is telling us, The Spirit, having led us to conversion, now leads us into the spirit of faithful devotion as sincere ‘ambassadors’ in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, our walk being earthly representatives of His Kingdom-rule! He is and is to be King of kings and Lord of lords, and as servants in His Kingdom, we’re ‘set apart’ to extend His Kingdom-rule, express His Kingdom-fruit, and illumine His Kingdom-faithfulness! Christ Jesus never missed a ‘beat’ in the Hallelujah Chorus of world redemption and Kingdom of God purpose!

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 the Holy Word inspires the truly repentant and regenerated souls of men. It says: “Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, AND has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

It’s “Christ in us, Christ through us, Christ being Himself” as Resurrected and Reigning Savior and Lord, graciously being “the hope of glory” in and through repentant, blood-bought, yielded vessels willing to be vessels only with Him our present, presiding Savior and Lord reaching out through us to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power!

THIRD, WE ENTRUST OURSELVES TO THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, AND HAVING BEEN FAITHFULLY TRANSFORMED AND DECLARED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF FATHER-GOD THROUGH CHRIST AND HIS HOLY SPIRIT, WE UNDERSTAND OUR STAMPING, “SEALING”, AND SERVICE TO BE FAITHFULLY LIVING LIFE TO THE HONOR OF CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Come to Ephesians 1:11-14, and Verses 17-19!! It says: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.[The gospel of your salvation? Your best efforts, your strong determination to honor Him as best you could, your mental mind-set apart from “crucified with Christ”, and even your ‘gloating’ at the ‘fruit’ you produced that has nothing to do with the “fruit of the Spirit”, your mind-set of ‘trust’ in self at its best as a substitute for being the redeemed tabernacle of Resurrection Presence to be Himself in you and through you that, like Paul, “I take the sentence of death daily to myself that His Resurrection Life may be manifested in me”? Ephesians 1:17-19!! “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM, they eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power…”!! His power? His working? His greatness?

We choose to “die daily” and yield to His indwelling Spirit of power! In Ephesians 5:18 Paul also said, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…”, yet, how easy it is for ‘believers’ to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”, Ephesians 4:30!

Paul wasn’t finished yet! In Ephesians 6:17-18 Paul highlights true discipleship proof! They LIVE BY THE WORD OF REDEMPTIVE TRUTH, “taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”

Is this why Romans 7:5-6 highlights living in “newness of the Spirit”? It says: “For when we were in the flesh (your unforgiven, sin-natured controlled life, strongly influenced by Satan and the world around you?), the sinful passions which were aroused by the law (the law of sin and death?) were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law (of sin and death?), HAVING DIED TO WHAT WE WERE HELD BY, having died to what we WERE HELD BY, so that we should serve “in the newness of the Spirit” and not in the oldness of the letter.” How clear is that to you?

FOURTH, THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THE SPIRIT UNVEILING MATURING IN CHRIST BY THE SPIRIT HIMSELF AND THE WORD, CONTINUES TO MANIFEST ETERNAL BLESSING, “GUIDING US INTO ALL TRUTH”! Luke 6:39 says, “Can the blind lead the blind?” Oh, but in Romans 8:12-17 we read, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh (the old sin nature!), to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; BUT IF BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are LED BY THE SPIRIT, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

As Christ Jesus ministered to His young disciples, and especially more pointedly as He knew He faced the Cross, He said to them in John 16:12-15, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine . Therefore I said that He (the Holy Spirit) will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is under “divine orders” from the Father to be your constant “guide”, your “faithful assistant”, and YOUR assured unveiling in you and through you to honor Christ Jesus, your Indwelling Lord and Savior! A few words of “Spirit-Inspiration”:

“God’s Spirit lights the Way, unveiling for me Christ’s glorifying ‘Day”; No longer highways of sinful indulgence, but the Pathway of Christ in me through Spirit-anointing.

God’s Spirit lights the fire, a fire of faithfulness to honor His Son; No longer the darkness of ‘flesh’ with no Light to guide, but The Spirit of fire, and from Him I will not hide.

God’s Spirit inflames the heart, the mind, and the will, and under His anointing God’s children cannot remain still; A world to touch, a life to see changed, blessed by the Spirit, heavenly rearranged!

God’s Spirit unveils the deceptions of self and Satan, clearly exposing the deceptions of a world of ‘flesh’; releasing the Light that make’s one’s pathways bright, I settle for Spirit-might, not a ‘fleshly candle light’!

God’s Spirit is the “faithful Guide”, and promised by Christ He does not hide; Presence is His promise, God’s power His provision, the mission of the Spirit is Christ’s ammunition!

God’s Spirit is about the ministry to ‘glorify Christ’, God’s appointment of ministry in Spirit-assistance; we’re not left alone in a world of unbelief but “Heaven-come-down” in sweet relief!

God’s Spirit abounds in Spirit-anointings – one mission in mind – to honor God’s Son! His anointings abound, and for every disciple, He waits to astound! He looks for the “child’ who needs help to obey, and offers His presence without any dismay!

God’s Spirit is sure: “Yes, there is the divine cure!” And He waits for the ‘servant’ to give Him His place, desiring in blessing, yes, His guardian gifts, intent in His ministry, no disciple’s rift!

God’s Spirit is certain – He’s the Spirit of Truth! Of Him, the world at large does not receive for its mind is deceived, because of the Spirit they neither see Him or know Him, content as spiritual orphans to live godless lives because it’s of the ‘flesh’ they think they spiritually thrive!

God’s Spirit has a ‘Day’, a time of explanation, when the Word clearly declares, “each of us shall give account of himself to God,” pray it’s not one of self-deviation, but one of “Christ Jesus exaltation”! Amen?

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, NOV.2-4, 2017

In John 16 the Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples for coming opposition AND His soon departure, the opposition even by religious leaders and many of the Jewish community opposed to Christ Himself and the “true seekers”; Verses 1-4, Jesus speaking, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Oh, but things were about to change! And Almighty God was sending the Holy Spirit because the Son’s ‘cross sacrifice’, His death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension would soon take place, and the Victorious Jesus would be seated at God’s right hand on the throne of Heaven and earth but with the promise, power, and participation of the Holy Spirit in the conviction of men’s heart, the convincing of their need of the Savior, their conversion, and guarding, guiding, and gifting the “new-born” sons and daughters of True, Eternal Faith “in Christ” for their earthly reigns, ministries, and extending of that Resurrection Life in Christ!

But for all true believers, that ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with “The Piercing Sword of Divine Conviction” – that’s God the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart, mind, and will in yielding to King Jesus!

Follow John 16:5-15! “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;

For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

As an ‘intro’ into the ministry of the Holy Spirit before I get to this message’s main emphasis, three things I want you to be aware of: 1) The Holy Spirit is our “faithful guide”, 2) The Holy Spirit grants us a full unveiling of Jesus (“He will glorify Me” in and through YOU!), 3) The Holy Spirit releases in all true, repentant, born-again believers “a forceful empowerment”!

And, “the forceful empowerment”? IT IS “THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION”! There are powerful verses in Revelation 1 when John unveiled His vision of the Son of Man! Examine carefully Verses 12-19! John wrote: Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,

“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”

Do you think that Christ Jesus was unveiling to John and us the continuing ministry of Christ through the Holy Spirit and His “eternal spiritual work” of the “piercing sword of divine conviction”? And, without a doubt, THAT is a vital ministry of the Holy Spirit! Jesus said, reminding you, of John 16:8-11, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me (So they keep on “sinning”!); of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged.”

I want you also to examine, reflect upon, and study Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6! He said: “knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. (Election? The Greek word is “eklogon” meaning God’s initiative, God’s selection, God’s choice, which He sovereignly has the right to do! And you know the “chosen” by the unveiling of Christ in them and through them!). For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”

SO, FIRST, LOOK AT THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION THAT IS AVAILABLE TO, YES, USHER IN DIVINE CONVERSION! Come to John 3 and receive Jesus’ words to Nicodemus and to us! John 3:1-8 says: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”

Jesus answered and said to Him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Has “the wind of God’s Spirit” blown upon your life, and have YOU been born again?).

‘Born of the Spirit’ is no reality apart from the deep conviction of sin and its birthing of the state of sinful death, alienated and separated from Holy God! No awareness of sin and the sin nature is evidence of a godless mind intent on enjoying “its” fruit apart from repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the cross.

What did we just read a brief time ago from 1 Thessalonians 1:5? “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance…”! Paul then said in Verse 6, “And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit…” There are those things, those attitudes, those outlooks in life that come, yes, from the world, the flesh, and from Satan himself, but ‘abiding joy’ in life comes only through the supernatural, new-birthing by the Spirit! We’re ‘born-again’ by the Spirit!

SECOND, WE EXAMINE THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THEN CONFESS, REPENT, TURN AWAY FROM THE PAST LIFE, AND REACH UP, INWARD, AND INTO ‘KINGDOM ALLEGIANCE’ AS EPHESIANS 2:18 TELLS US, “FOR THROUGH HIM WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER! The Holy Spirit, Paul is telling us, The Spirit, having led us to conversion, now leads us into the spirit of faithful devotion as sincere ‘ambassadors’ in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, our walk being earthly representatives of His Kingdom-rule! He is and is to be King of kings and Lord of lords, and as servants in His Kingdom, we’re ‘set apart’ to extend His Kingdom-rule, express His Kingdom-fruit, and illumine His Kingdom-faithfulness! Christ Jesus never missed a ‘beat’ in the Hallelujah Chorus of world redemption and Kingdom of God purpose!

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 the Holy Word inspires the truly repentant and regenerated souls of men. It says: “Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, AND has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

It’s “Christ in us, Christ through us, Christ being Himself” as Resurrected and Reigning Savior and Lord, graciously being “the hope of glory” in and through repentant, blood-bought, yielded vessels willing to be vessels only with Him our present, presiding Savior and Lord reaching out through us to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power!

THIRD, WE ENTRUST OURSELVES TO THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, AND HAVING BEEN FAITHFULLY TRANSFORMED AND DECLARED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF FATHER-GOD THROUGH CHRIST AND HIS HOLY SPIRIT, WE UNDERSTAND OUR STAMPING, “SEALING”, AND SERVICE TO BE FAITHFULLY LIVING LIFE TO THE HONOR OF CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Come to Ephesians 1:11-14, and Verses 17-19!! It says: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.[The gospel of your salvation? Your best efforts, your strong determination to honor Him as best you could, your mental mind-set apart from “crucified with Christ”, and even your ‘gloating’ at the ‘fruit’ you produced that has nothing to do with the “fruit of the Spirit”, your mind-set of ‘trust’ in self at its best as a substitute for being the redeemed tabernacle of Resurrection Presence to be Himself in you and through you that, like Paul, “I take the sentence of death daily to myself that His Resurrection Life may be manifested in me”? Ephesians 1:17-19!! “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM, they eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power…”!! His power? His working? His greatness?

We choose to “die daily” and yield to His indwelling Spirit of power! In Ephesians 5:18 Paul also said, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…”, yet, how easy it is for ‘believers’ to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”, Ephesians 4:30!

Paul wasn’t finished yet! In Ephesians 6:17-18 Paul highlights true discipleship proof! They LIVE BY THE WORD OF REDEMPTIVE TRUTH, “taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”

Is this why Romans 7:5-6 highlights living in “newness of the Spirit”? It says: “For when we were in the flesh (your unforgiven, sin-natured controlled life, strongly influenced by Satan and the world around you?), the sinful passions which were aroused by the law (the law of sin and death?) were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law (of sin and death?), HAVING DIED TO WHAT WE WERE HELD BY, having died to what we WERE HELD BY, so that we should serve “in the newness of the Spirit” and not in the oldness of the letter.” How clear is that to you?

FOURTH, THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THE SPIRIT UNVEILING MATURING IN CHRIST BY THE SPIRIT HIMSELF AND THE WORD, CONTINUES TO MANIFEST ETERNAL BLESSING, “GUIDING US INTO ALL TRUTH”! Luke 6:39 says, “Can the blind lead the blind?” Oh, but in Romans 8:12-17 we read, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh (the old sin nature!), to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; BUT IF BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are LED BY THE SPIRIT, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

As Christ Jesus ministered to His young disciples, and especially more pointedly as He knew He faced the Cross, He said to them in John 16:12-15, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine . Therefore I said that He (the Holy Spirit) will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is under “divine orders” from the Father to be your constant “guide”, your “faithful assistant”, and YOUR assured unveiling in you and through you to honor Christ Jesus, your Indwelling Lord and Savior! A few words of “Spirit-Inspiration”:

“God’s Spirit lights the Way, unveiling for me Christ’s glorifying ‘Day”; No longer highways of sinful indulgence, but the Pathway of Christ in me through Spirit-anointing.

God’s Spirit lights the fire, a fire of faithfulness to honor His Son; No longer the darkness of ‘flesh’ with no Light to guide, but The Spirit of fire, and from Him I will not hide.

God’s Spirit inflames the heart, the mind, and the will, and under His anointing God’s children cannot remain still; A world to touch, a life to see changed, blessed by the Spirit, heavenly rearranged!

God’s Spirit unveils the deceptions of self and Satan, clearly exposing the deceptions of a world of ‘flesh’; releasing the Light that make’s one’s pathways bright, I settle for Spirit-might, not a ‘fleshly candle light’!

God’s Spirit is the “faithful Guide”, and promised by Christ He does not hide; Presence is His promise, God’s power His provision, the mission of the Spirit is Christ’s ammunition!

God’s Spirit is about the ministry to ‘glorify Christ’, God’s appointment of ministry in Spirit-assistance; we’re not left alone in a world of unbelief but “Heaven-come-down” in sweet relief!

God’s Spirit abounds in Spirit-anointings – one mission in mind – to honor God’s Son! His anointings abound, and for every disciple, He waits to astound! He looks for the “child’ who needs help to obey, and offers His presence without any dismay!

God’s Spirit is sure: “Yes, there is the divine cure!” And He waits for the ‘servant’ to give Him His place, desiring in blessing, yes, His guardian gifts, intent in His ministry, no disciple’s rift!

God’s Spirit is certain – He’s the Spirit of Truth! Of Him, the world at large does not receive for its mind is deceived, because of the Spirit they neither see Him or know Him, content as spiritual orphans to live godless lives because it’s of the ‘flesh’ they think they spiritually thrive!

God’s Spirit has a ‘Day’, a time of explanation, when the Word clearly declares, “each of us shall give account of himself to God,” pray it’s not one of self-deviation, but one of “Christ Jesus exaltation”! Amen?